Longing for Freedom
Equiano, Wheatley, Terry
The
Transatlantic
Slave Trade
■
Began roughly 1501-1867
■
12.5 million kidnapped
from Africa
■
8% came to North
America
■
US banned African people
as imported good in 1808
■
By 1820, enslaved
Africans made up 80% of
all immigrants to the
Americas
The Middle Passage
■ 15% died in the Middle passage
■ The seasoning process
■ Methods of resistance
Slave Narrative as a genre
■ Popular from 1830-1863
■ Created public concern for the abolition of slavery
■ Themes include:
Self determination
Promoting equal status of races
Hypocrisy of US slavery
Slave Narratives
■
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Formula
Letter of credibility
Bondage
Introduction to education
Salvation through education
Plan to escape
1st attempt at escape
Successful attempt at escape
Test of maturity
Olaudah
Equiano
■ Born 1745-1797
■ Kidnapped at age 11
■ First to verify and report
on African slave trade
■ Spent most of his adult
life at sea
■ Bestseller: Stayed in print
over 200 years;
translated in several
language
Reading/ Discussion Questions
1.
What myths does Equiano dispel about Africa, African culture, and the slave
trade as a whole?
2.
What strategies does Equiano use to make his arguments and why?
3. How does being an adult, telling stories of his youth, impact the way the
narrative is told? Does he ever mature?