Equianos Interesting Narrative Reading

Olaudah (usually pronounced o-LAH-do) Equiano was a West African child kidnapped at the age of 11 and eventually transported to the Americas. His story is one of the rare 1st-hand accounts that we have of an enslaved African. We have lots of African *American* slave narratives [stories], but African slave narratives are really rare. The fact that Equiano not only survived the Middle Passage and thrived as an adult in the Americas, but also learned how to read and write, is quite extraordinary.

This is not a long reading, only 9 pages, but there is sooooo much to think about in this chapter. First off, notice that during his journey he is enslaved by Africans as well as by whites. How does that slavery compare? Is his treatment at the hands of Africans and whites similar or different? What does the African landscape look like as he passes through? What are his emotions as he reaches the coast and sees the ocean? What is the Middle Passage journey like for him? Do you see the three legs of a slave’s journey that is mentioned in this week’s lecture?

Please watch this week’s lecture videos before reading the Equiano narrative. The reading will make much more sense to you if you know the information from the lecture first. I will give you until Tuesday of next week to turn in this Reading Response. Please upload your paper to the link on this page. Your submission will filter through the Turnitin plagiarism software as well as AI detection software. You want a Turnitin score of less than 10%. If your submission is flagged higher than 10%, that means your submission has copied someone else’s text too closely. Please use your own thoughts and words to write your reading response.