Slave deck of the Albaroz, Prize to the Albatross, 1845 - Meynell

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/return.php?categorynum=5&categoryName=Slave%20Ships%20and%20the%20Atlantic%20Crossing%20(Middle%20Passage)

Is not the slave trade entirely a war with the heart of man? Such a tendency has the slave trade to debauch men’s minds and harden them to every feeling of humanity! For I will not suppose that the dealers in slaves are born worse than other men….it corrupts the milk of human kindness and turns it into gall. Surely this traffic cannot be good, which spreads like a pestilence and taints what it touches!

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.

Olaudah Equiano1745 – 1797

African, Slave, American, Sailor, Englishman, Writer, Abolitionist

http://www.learn360.com/ShowVideo.aspx?ID=136742

http://www.equiano.soham.org.uk/biography.html

How does Equiano use rhetoric to persuade his reader?

How important are the questions of his birth in terms of what his Narrative accomplished?

Olaudah Equiano• Slave Narrative

– autobiographical account of life as a slave– uniquely American literary genre

• The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudha Equiano– Published 1789

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/guinea.html

Olaudah Equiano

• Equiano born to powerful tribal leader in West Africa

• Name means “well-spoken leader” in Ibo• Purchased his freedom for ￡ 40 in 1766

at age 21• Supported effort to relocate poor blacks to

Sierra Leon• Moved to England where he advocated for

abolition of slavery

http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/map1.htmEquiano’s travels

Olaudah Equiano• Narrative documents his experience

– Taken with his sister at age 11– Shipped along the infamous

“Middle Passage”• Between West Africa and Barbados

– Nearly 15 million Africans– Nearly 2 million died enroute

• Six to ten week journey• “Passengers” confined below deck

http://www.equiano.soham.org.uk/biography.html

I now wished for the last friend, Death, to relieve me. - Equiano

Olaudah Equiano

• The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudha Equiano– Described daily life of those enslaved in 1700s– Author’s purpose: to persuade the public against

slavery• Voice is not objective• POV contributes to rhetorical power

– Author uses strong emotional appeal to strengthen its impact

– Uses rhetoric to ally predominately Anglo audience with African victims

• Avoids pity and emphasizes universal qualities

Web Equiano resource http://www.equiano.soham.org.uk/biography.htmlhttp://www.black-history-month.co.uk/articles/olaudah_equiano.html