20170402232941is_it_not_enough_that_we_are_torn_from_our_country_and_friends
Write and type up a two-to-four paragraph analytical essay in which you consider how to assess r characterizle the Transatlantic Slave Trade and slavery in the 18th century (1700s).Be sure to have a thesis and put it in your first paragraph. Use support from readings to support your argument.
primary sources
1-OLAUDAH EQUIANO 2-SPARKS, THE TWO PRINCES OF CALABAR, INTRODUCTION, CHAPTERS 1 AND 2 OR THOMPSON, AMERICAN SLAVERY, CHAPTER 5, SURVIVING SLAVERY;
The analysis assignment is open-ended, but you might consider some of the following questions when developing your thesis:
– Why did people get involved in the slave trade business? Why did they make the decisions they did?
– How did people cope with their lives in enslavement?
– How did people resist? What factors might have determined the types of resistance strategy they
chose to employ?
– Did growing up as a slave differ from the experience of being captured and enslaved? How?
– How did people cope with and survive the “middle passage” from Africa to the “new” world?
essay MUST include:
1) A thesis statement (this is the main point you want to make such as the 1927 handout which asserted that “America is the child of Europe.”) thesis should be in the first paragraph.
2) An argument/interpretation (what the readings demonstrate about the society/how we should understand the documents and this society using proof or evidence from the documents/textbook.) See above questions for ideas.
3) Should include a timeframe, which should be in the first paragraph and preferably a part of the thesis; and
4) At least one partial quote from the primary source document(s) that support your point(s) (e.g., Queen
Juana believed that the Indians of Hispaniola were inferior to Spaniards due to her description of the Indians them as having “evil inclinations” and being predisposed to their “customary idleness and vice.” Otherwise you may paraphrase your support from the textbook/documents.
please make sure to use simple grammar , words and the sources
1-OLAUDAH EQUIANO 2-SPARKS, THE TWO PRINCES OF CALABAR, INTRODUCTION, CHAPTERS 1 AND 2 OR THOMPSON, AMERICAN SLAVERY, CHAPTER 5, SURVIVING SLAVERY;
Dear tutor,
please make sure to use simple grammar , words and the sources
thanks.
“Is It Not Enough that We Are Torn From Our Country
and Friends?”: Olaudah Equiano Describes the Horrors of
the Middle Passage, 1780s
In one of the largest forced migrations in human history, up to 12 million
Africans were sold as slaves to Europeans and shipped to the Americas. Most
slaves were seized inland and marched to coastal forts, where they were chained
below deck in ships for the journey across the Atlantic or “Middle Passage,”
under conditions designed to ship the largest number of people in the smallest
space possible. Olaudah Equiano had been kidnapped from his family when he
was 11 years old, carried off first to Barbados and then Virginia. After serving in
the British navy, he was sold to a Quaker merchant from whom he purchased his
freedom in 1766. His pioneering narrative of the journey from slavery to
freedom, a bestseller first published in London in 1789, builds upon the
traditions of spiritual narratives and travel literature to help create the slave
narrative genre.
The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the sea,
and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo.
These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I
was carried on board. I was immediately handled, and tossed up to see if I were
sound, by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a
world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their complexions, too,
differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke (which
was very different from any I had ever heard), united to confirm me in this
belief. Indeed, such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment,
that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have freely parted with
them all to have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my
own country. When I looked round the ship too, and saw a large furnace of
copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained
together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no
longer doubted of my fate; and, quite overpowered with horror and anguish, I
fell motionless on the deck and fainted. When I recovered a little, I found some
black people about me, who I believed were some of those who had brought me
on board, and had been receiving their pay; they talked to me in order to cheer
me, but all in vain. I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men
with horrible looks, red faces, and long hair. They told me I was not, and one of
the crew brought me a small portion of spirituous liquor in a wine glass; but
being afraid of him, I would not take it out of his hand. One of the blacks
therefore took it from him and gave it to me, and I took a little down my palate,
which, instead of reviving me, as they thought it would, threw me into the
greatest consternation at the strange feeling it produced, having never tasted
any such liquor before. Soon after this, the blacks who brought me on board
went off, and left me abandoned to despair.
I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or
even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as
friendly; and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present
situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my
ignorance of what I was to undergo. I was not long suffered to indulge my grief;
I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in
my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the
loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that
I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything. I now wished
for the last friend, Death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white
men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast
by the hands, and laid me across, I think, the windlass, and tied my feet, while
the other flogged me severely. I had never experienced anything of this kind
before, and, although not being used to the water, I naturally feared that
element the first time I saw it, yet, nevertheless, could I have got over the
nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and besides, the
crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks,
lest we should leap into the water; and I have seen some of these poor African
prisoners most severely cut, for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not
eating. This indeed was often the case with myself.
In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I found some of my own
nation, which in a small degree gave ease to my mind. I inquired of these what
was to be done with us? They gave me to understand, we were to be carried to
these white people’s country to work for them. I then was a little revived, and
thought, if it were no worse than working, my situation was not so desperate;
but still I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as
I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such
instances of brutal cruelty; and this not only shown towards us blacks, but also
to some of the whites themselves. One white man in particular I saw, when we
were permitted to be on deck, flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the
foremast, that he died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side
as they would have done a brute. This made me fear these people the more;
and I expected nothing less than to be treated in the same manner. I could not
help expressing my fears and apprehensions to some of my countrymen; I asked
them if these people had no country, but lived in this hollow place (the ship)?
They told me they did not, but came from a distant one. “Then,” said I, “how
comes it in all our country we never heard of them?” They told me because they
lived so very far off. I then asked where were their women? had they any like
themselves? I was told they had. “And why,” said I, “do we not see them?” They
answered, because they were left behind. I asked how the vessel could go? They
told me they could not tell; but that there was cloth put upon the masts by the
help of the ropes I saw, and then the vessel went on; and the white men had
some spell or magic they put in the water when they liked, in order to stop the
vessel. I was exceedingly amazed at this account, and really thought they were
spirits. I therefore wished much to be from amongst them, for I expected they
would sacrifice me; but my wishes were vain — for we were so quartered that it
was impossible for any of us to make our escape.
While we stayed on the coast I was mostly on deck; and one day, to my great
astonishment, I saw one of these vessels coming in with the sails up. As soon as
the whites saw it, they gave a great shout, at which we were amazed; and the
more so, as the vessel appeared larger by approaching nearer. At last, she came
to an anchor in my sight, and when the anchor was let go, I and my countrymen
who saw it, were lost in astonishment to observe the vessel stop—and were now
convinced it was done by magic. Soon after this the other ship got her boats out,
and they came on board of us, and the people of both ships seemed very glad to
see each other. Several of the strangers also shook hands with us black people,
and made motions with their hands, signifying I suppose, we were to go to their
country, but we did not understand them.
At last, when the ship we were in, had got in all her cargo, they made ready with
many fearful noises, and we were all put under deck, so that we could not see
how they managed the vessel. But this disappointment was the least of my
sorrow. The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably
loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us
had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole
ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. The
closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the
ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost
suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became
unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a
sickness among the slaves, of which many died — thus falling victims to the
improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation
was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable,
and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were
almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying,
rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps, for
myself, I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep
me almost always on deck; and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters.
In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions,
some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which
I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. Often did I think many
of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself. I envied them the
freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for
theirs. Every circumstance I met with, served only to render my state more
painful, and heightened my apprehensions, and my opinion of the cruelty of the
whites.
One day they had taken a number of fishes; and when they had killed and
satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who
were on deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat, as we expected, they
tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for
some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being
pressed by hunger, took an opportunity, when they thought no one saw them, of
trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt
procured them some very severe floggings.
One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied
countrymen who were chained together (I was near them at the time),
preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings
and jumped into the sea; immediately, another quite dejected fellow, who, on
account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their
example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same, if they
had not been prevented by the ship’s crew, who were instantly alarmed. Those
of us that were the most active, were in a moment put down under the deck;
and there was such a noise and confusion amongst the people of the ship as I
never heard before, to stop her, and get the boat out to go after the slaves.
However, two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the other, and
afterwards flogged him unmercifully, for thus attempting to prefer death to
slavery. In this manner we continued to undergo more hardships than I can now
relate, hardships which are inseparable from this accursed trade. Many a time
we were near suffocation from the want of fresh air, which we were often
without for whole days together. This, and the stench of the necessary tubs,
carried off many.
During our passage, I first saw flying fishes, which surprised me very much;
they used frequently to fly across the ship, and many of them fell on the deck. I
also now first saw the use of the quadrant; I had often with astonishment seen
the mariners make observations with it, and I could not think what it meant.
They at last took notice of my surprise; and one of them, willing to increase it,
as well as to gratify my curiosity, made me one day look through it. The clouds
appeared to me to be land, which disappeared as they passed along. This
heightened my wonder; and I was now more persuaded than ever, that I was in
another world, and that every thing about me was magic.
At last we came in sight of the island of Barbadoes, at which the whites on board
gave a great shout, and made many signs of joy to us. We did not know what to
think of this; but as the vessel drew nearer, we plainly saw the harbor, and
other ships of different kinds and sizes, and we soon anchored amongst them,
off Bridgetown. Many merchants and planters now came on board, though it was
in the evening. They put us in separate parcels, and examined us attentively.
They also made us jump, and pointed to the land, signifying we were to go
there. We thought by this, we should be eaten by these ugly men, as they
appeared to us; and, when soon after we were all put down under the deck
again, there was much dread and trembling among us, and nothing but bitter
cries to be heard all the night from these apprehensions, insomuch, that at last
the white people got some old slaves from the land to pacify us. They told us we
were not to be eaten, but to work, and were soon to go on land, where we
should see many of our country people. This report eased us much. And sure
enough, soon after we were landed, there came to us Africans of all languages.
We were conducted immediately to the merchant’s yard, where we were all pent
up together, like so many sheep in a fold, without regard to sex or age. As every
object was new to me, everything I saw filled me with surprise. What struck me
first, was, that the houses were built with bricks, in stories, and in every other
respect different from those I had seen in Africa; but I was still more astonished
on seeing people on horseback. I did not know what this could mean; and,
indeed, I thought these people were full of nothing but magical arts. While I was
in this astonishment, one of my fellow prisoners spoke to a countryman of his,
about the horses, who said they were the same kind they had in their country. I
understood them, though they were from a distant part of Africa; and I thought
it odd I had not seen any horses there; but afterwards, when I came to converse
with different Africans, I found they had many horses amongst them, and much
larger than those I then saw.
We were not many days in the merchant’s custody, before we were sold after
their usual manner, which is this: On a signal given (as the beat of a drum), the
buyers rush at once into the yard where the slaves are confined, and make
choice of that parcel they like best. The noise and clamor with which this is
attended, and the eagerness visible in the countenances of the buyers, serve not
a little to increase the apprehension of terrified Africans, who may well be
supposed to consider them as the ministers of that destruction to which they
think themselves devoted. In this manner, without scruple, are relations and
friends separated, most of them never to see each other again.
I remember, in the vessel in which I was brought over, in the men’s apartment,
there were several brothers, who, in the sale, were sold in different lots; and it
was very moving on this occasion, to see and hear their cries at parting. O, ye
nominal Christians! might not an African ask you — Learned you this from your
God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto
you? Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends, to toil for
your luxury and lust of gain? Must every tender feeling be likewise sacrificed to
your avarice? Are the dearest friends and relations, now rendered more dear by
their separation from their kindred, still to be parted from each other, and thus
prevented from cheering the gloom of slavery, with the small comfort of being
together, and mingling their sufferings and sorrows? Why are parents to lose
their children, brothers their sisters, or husbands their wives? Surely, this is a
new refinement in cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for it, thus
aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to the wretchedness of slavery.
Source: Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The Interesting Narrative of the
Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself. 2
vols. (London: Author, 1789), Vol. 1, 70–88.
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