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He was born free but soon was forced into slavery which took him all around the world. From his accounts he has written down, he shows his life as a slave. Equiano had been bought and sold throughout the Americas and Europe; he showed the different faces of slavery in the different regions of the world through his accounts. It is these accounts that show the affects different “types” of slavery had on himself, his fellow slaves and his slave masters. “Equiano experienced virtually every kind of slavery and every part of the slave experience: capture in Africa, the “middle passage” from Africa to the Americas, plantation labor in Virginia and the West Indies, and ultimately service on a slave-trading ship between North America and the Caribbean.” He bounced from the tolerable slavery in Africa, to the suicidal conditions in the West Indies, to the “free” conditions throughout Europe. In the narrative of his life, he depicts and explains the life he led that no man should ever have to lead. Olaudah Equiano was born and raised for the early years in his life in a small African village in 1745. The form of slavery in this village and its surrounding neighbors was a form of punishment for crimes or prisoners captured from attacking villages. Slaves were treated with respect in the villages, they were not allowed to eat at the same table as the villagers who were born free but were provided sufficient food and housing for them and their families. They did no more work than the other people in the village did. Their clothing, housing, food and mannerisms were the same as the people who owned them. European influence started to affect slavery in Africa and it was now becoming an enterprise rather than a legal system for punishment. Traders would come to Africa selling goods to these people, who did not have access to these goods before, in exchange for slaves. These traders would bribe chiefs of tribes to go out and capture neighboring villagers in exchange for goods, encouraging the kidnapping and enslavement of fellow Africans. “When a trader wants slaves, he applies to a chief for them, and tempts him with his wares.” This was all a part of the European Triangular Trade. Goods were brought to Africa in order to trade with the Africans. Slaves were then shipped to the Americas to produce more goods to be sent to Europe in order start the whole trade cycle again. Equiano was a victim of this Triangular Trade enterprise and was taken away from everything he had ever known at the young age of 11. He was traded from tribe to tribe and in most cases was treated just like any other child of the village. He is labeled as a slave, though the treatment he receives does not fall under the stereotypical conditions of a slave. He was allowed to play with other children and was treated like a member of many of the households where he was detained and never once mistreated. Though he was filled with fright with each corner he turned, nothing could prepare him for the mistreatment he would receive later down the road. The “face” of slavery at this point was very lenient and almost a carefree face until Equiano was kidnapped again and brought to the coast of Africa to be sold to a slave ship intended for use by the middle passage. It was here on the west coast that slaves became an easy access for European traders. Men with different complexions Equiano had never seen or encountered before, had long hair, and who spoke a completely different language dragged him aboard. He was in a state of total confusion; he could not understand what they are saying, he did not know anyone, and he had no idea where he was going. He was convinced they were going to kill and eat him. The conditions aboard the ship were intolerable and many times Equiano found himself wishing he were dead rather than kept alive on the ship. “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…” In the case of suicide, nets lined the sides of the ship in order to catch any who might attempt to end their misery. Some succeeded while others who were unfortunate enough to be caught were severely flogged, another brutality never seen or encountered before by Equiano. Most slaves in the end did die of malnutrition and diseases. Equiano was kept aboard the ship for a long time in the traveling between countries. Many new things he had never encountered before still terrified him, men on horseback, houses made out bricks but, even more terrifying, the manner in which the slaves were sold. “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 white slave traders based their purchases upon the age and sex of slaves, the older males being more expensive. Equiano learned of the brutality the West Indies through the stories of other slaves and their experiences. “I have seen a Negro man stacked to the ground, and cut most shockingly, and then his ears cut off bit by bit, because he had been connected with a white woman who was a common prostitute…” Other instances of abuse were a man half hanged and burnt for trying to poison his master, another man having his leg cut off for running away and a man who was beaten so badly some of his bones were broken. Equiano also witnessed unusual forms of punishment such as metal irons around the neck and mouth and slaves thrown into a wooden box, sealed with no room to move. Slave owners in the West Indies were cruel. They did not have to own a slave in order to control them. A free man aboard Equiano’s ship was apprehended by another slave master claiming that the man was his property. The free man had his emancipation papers but it did not matter, slave owners disregarded the rights of the free black man. In the hopes of gaining his freedom, Equiano did not think he could ever be free if he remained in the West Indies. “…I had thought only slavery dreadful, but the state of a free Negro appeared to me now equally so at least, and in some events worse, for they live in constant alarm for their liberty…for such is the equity of the West Indian laws, that no free Negro’s evidence will be admitted in their courts of justice.” In Virginia, Equiano spent time on a plantation. It was here where he was mortified after seeing a woman of his color chained in irons, he had never seen before; one of which went over the woman’s mouth so as she could not eat, drink or barely even talk. It was hear where he was given the name Gustavas Vassa against his will; his master wanted to signify that Equiano wass his slave and that he had no history. If he refused to answer to his new name, he would be punished. “…And when I refused to answer to my new name, which I at first did, it gained me many a cuff…” Many incidents in Georgia showed how the slave owners in Georgia were just as cruel as the slave traders Equiano had known from his past. One incident, a man who asked for money he had earned was put into jail then, accused of trying to set the man’s house on fire and running away with his slaves. Another incident that happened in Georgia was when Equiano was standing in a yard with some slaves and the slave master of them, only recognizing Equiano as a stranger, proceeded to beat him with whatever tools he could get his hands on. Equiano’s treatment in the America’s was something he wanted to forget. Yet, later in his life, it was here where he preached his ideas of religious certainty and became known as a public figure. Equiano spent most of his slave life at sea, either for the Royal Navy or as a sailor. He stayed with numerous families in Europe throughout his time that he served in the Navy. He was treated very well in their homes, almost like an Englishman and learned to understand the English language. “I was so much caressed by this family that it often reminded me of the treatment I had received from my little noble African master” Now influenced by European Civilization he knew he had a new founded yearning to learn how to read and write. Yet, Europeans at this time do no think blacks can comprehend their way of life and are skeptical of his thirst for knowledge. He became a Christian and then baptized; he expected to gain his freedom at the end of the war because of his baptism but, it was not so. Later after he had served under the direction of a new master, sailing ships and selling merchandise, he was able to buy his freedom. However, he did not feel he was free in the West Indies and reverted to London. He realized that there is no real protection against violent people. In England, he was fully exposed to English ways and just wanted to show white people that he was just like everyone else. Olaudah Equiano faced a life filled with hardships. These hardships only made him a better man. Having to face slavery at such an early stage and years of abuse from various traders and owners had to have been psychologically damaging in some ways. Yet, he proved himself. He wanted the English people to know that someone born on a different continent could learn a different life and he demonstrated it. He saw so many people and witnessed so many events it boggles the mind. “…That almost every event of my life made an impression on my mind, and influenced my conduct.” He survived it all though. He lived the rest of his life as a servant in England where he preached his religious ways and fought for the abolition of his people, and he tried to put an end to the horrible treatment they received in the West Indies. Although Equiano never did see his people go free, his intentions were soon met and England abolished slavery and put and end to the slave trade. Bibliography: Word Count: 1904
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