Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano was taken by force at the age of eleven from his West African village of Benin. He was then put on a ship to travel through the rough "Middle Passage" of the Atlantic Ocean to become a slave in the West Indies. In the West Indies (Barbados) he was put up for sale to work in the sugar plantations. Then in 1766, he was sold to a Virginian farmer to be a slave there. He was a slave in North America for ten years, and then he was allowed to buy his freedom. He left North American and went to Great Britain. In Great Britain he worked as a barber and became an abolish nest. He spoke out against slavery and in 1789 wrote a book about his life called "The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African", written by himself. This was thought to be the first book written by a former slave. In 1745, Equiano was born in Benin, which in now Virginia, he was a member of the farming village of Iseeke, they were in the IBO tribe. Equiano wrote in his autobiography that he was brought up to be a farmer and a great warrior. He was the youngest child and his mother would dress him up to look like a great
He was bough and put to work cutting sugar cane in Barbados. Oclaudah stated that so many slaves were beaten and killed that there would have to be a shipment of 20,000 slaves a year to fill up the vacant spots of slaves. Equiano was fortunate, he was finally allowed to be a paid seaman on Robert King's ship and then allowed to purchase his freedom, he then returned to England. Then Equiano was sold to a master in England. Many of the slaves below spent the entire journey sick or they died. He thought the white men would eat him but the other slaves on the ship said they would not. Before the people of his tribe were kidnapped for slavery, he described a simple life of farm labor and playing with the other tribe kids. He was bound and gagged and given no food for days. It was in England where he fought against slavery and wrote his autobiography in 1789. Here he saw cruel treatment of slaves. He saw terrible cruelties to slaves, including rapes of black girls. When the ship neared the West Indies, Oclaudah was examined by slave buyers. Equiano survived the horror of being a slave, losing his family and his tribal identity and heritage. He saw a black man stacked to the ground and his ear cut off because they thought that he liked a white woman. Then one day while he was playing, he saw from a tree the white men come and take people away including himself .
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Acceptance Essays
