I understood them, though they were from a distant part of Africa; and I thought it odd I had not seen any horses there; but afterwards, when I came to converse with different Africans, I found they had many horses amongst them, and much larger than those I then saw. As soon as the whites saw it, they gave a great shout, at which we were amazed; and the more so, as the vessel appeared larger by approaching nearer. Look at several garments in different price ranges in a store. Washington, D.C. Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use), African American History Curatorial Collective, The Wreck and Rescue of an Immigrant Ship, Disaster! In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. Captured far from the African coast when he was a boy of 11, Olaudah Equiano was sold into slavery, later acquired his freedom, and, in 1789, wrote his . 0000011221 00000 n 0000003736 00000 n When I recovered a little, I found some black people about me, who I believed were some of those who had brought me on board, and had been receiving their pay; they talked to me in order to cheer me, but all in vain. They told me they could not tell; but that there was cloth put upon the masts by the help of the ropes I saw, and then the vessel went on; and the white men had some spell or magic they put in the water when they liked, in order to stop the vessel. Evaluate the fabric and workmanship on each. Nam risus ante, dapibus a molestie consequat, ultrices ac magna. DuBois on Black Progress (1895, 1903), Jane Addams, The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements (1892), Eugene Debs, How I Became a Socialist (April, 1902), Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Alice Stone Blackwell, Answering Objections to Womens Suffrage (1917), Theodore Roosevelt on The New Nationalism (1910), Woodrow Wilson Requests War (April 2, 1917), Emma Goldman on Patriotism (July 9, 1917), W.E.B DuBois, Returning Soldiers (May, 1919), Lutiant Van Wert describes the 1918 Flu Pandemic (1918), Manuel Quezon calls for Filipino Independence (1919), Warren G. Harding and the Return to Normalcy (1920), Crystal Eastman, Now We Can Begin (1920), Marcus Garvey, Explanation of the Objects of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (1921), Hiram Evans on the The Klans Fight for Americanism (1926), Herbert Hoover, Principles and Ideals of the United States Government (1928), Ellen Welles Page, A Flappers Appeal to Parents (1922), Huey P. Long, Every Man a King and Share our Wealth (1934), Franklin Roosevelts Re-Nomination Acceptance Speech (1936), Second Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1937), Lester Hunter, Id Rather Not Be on Relief (1938), Bertha McCall on Americas Moving People (1940), Dorothy West, Amateur Night in Harlem (1938), Charles A. Lindbergh, America First (1941), A Phillip Randolph and Franklin Roosevelt on Racial Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941), Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga on Japanese Internment (1942/1994), Harry Truman Announcing the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima (1945), Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945), Dwight D. Eisenhower, Atoms for Peace (1953), Senator Margaret Chase Smiths Declaration of Conscience (1950), Lillian Hellman Refuses to Name Names (1952), Paul Robesons Appearance Before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1956), Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), Richard Nixon on the American Standard of Living (1959), John F. Kennedy on the Separation of Church and State (1960), Congressman Arthur L. Miller Gives the Putrid Facts About Homosexuality (1950), Rosa Parks on Life in Montgomery, Alabama (1956-1958), Barry Goldwater, Republican Nomination Acceptance Speech (1964), Lyndon Johnson on Voting Rights and the American Promise (1965), Lyndon Johnson, Howard University Commencement Address (1965), National Organization for Women, Statement of Purpose (1966), George M. Garcia, Vietnam Veteran, Oral Interview (1969/2012), Fannie Lou Hamer: Testimony at the Democratic National Convention 1964, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968), Statement by John Kerry of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971), Barbara Jordan, 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (1976), Jimmy Carter, Crisis of Confidence (1979), Gloria Steinem on Equal Rights for Women (1970), First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan (1981), Jerry Falwell on the Homosexual Revolution (1981), Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985), Phyllis Schlafly on Womens Responsibility for Sexual Harassment (1981), Jesse Jackson on the Rainbow Coalition (1984), Bill Clinton on Free Trade and Financial Deregulation (1993-2000), The 9/11 Commission Report, Reflecting On A Generational Challenge (2004), George W. Bush on the Post-9/11 World (2002), Pedro Lopez on His Mothers Deportation (2008/2015), Chelsea Manning Petitions for a Pardon (2013), Emily Doe (Chanel Miller), Victim Impact Statement (2015). 0000004891 00000 n In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I found some of my own nation, which in a small degree gave ease to my mind. Without ventilation or sufficient water, about 15% grew sick and died. Ask and answer questions. Cite evidence from the text to support your answer. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. According to Olaudah Equiano, the middle passage is described as the transatlantic trade to be terrifying since it embraced slavery. The clouds appeared to me to be land, which disappeared as they passed along. ships in the Middle Passage. He is sometimes left unchained above deck and at other times he is chained with the rest. 23 0 obj <> endobj Surely, this is a new refinement in cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for it, thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to the wretchedness of slavery. However, two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the other, and afterwards flogged him unmercifully, for thus attempting to prefer death to slavery. More books than SparkNotes. we should be eaten by these ugly men, as they appeared to us; and, when soon after we were all put down under the deck again, there was much dread and trembling among us, and nothing but bitter cries to be heard all the night from these apprehensions, insomuch, that at last the white people got some old slaves from the land to pacify us. <]/Prev 754763>> He uses figurative language to explain all the aspects of the ships in middle passage. Happily perhaps, for myself, I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck; and. Indeed, such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own country. Public Domain. What was the Middle Passage like? But this disappointment was the least of my sorrow. In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. . The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. 0000070593 00000 n Equiano's life story is a journey of education in which he goes from innocence in edenic Africa to the cruel experience of slavery in the West. You can specify conditions of storing and accessing cookies in your browser, OLAUDAH EQUIANO RECALLS THE MIDDLE PASSAGE, 7. In this narrative it explains the process of Equiano taken from his native land of Africa. Equiano eventually purchased his freedom and lived in London where he advocated for abolition. The slave routes between America and Africa were long and uncomfortable. Equiano was born in Nigeria and was kidnapped into slavery at the age of eleven. I could not help expressing my fears and apprehensions to some of my countrymen; I asked them if these people had no country, but lived in this hollow place (the ship)? We thought by this. Equiano became an abolitionist and began to record his life story after being freed. . 0000102522 00000 n Men, women, and children were packed together on or below decks without space to sit up or move around. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. had they any like themselves? And why, said I, do we not see them? They answered, because they were left behind. This map includes European names for parts of the West African coast where PART B: Which of the following quotations supports the answer to Part A? 1. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I was carried on board. In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. In 1773 he accompanied Irving on a polar expedition in search of a northeast passage from Europe to Asia. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs. What differences do you see? Are the dearest friends and relations, now rendered more dear by their separation from their kindred, still to be parted from each other, and thus prevented from cheering the gloom of slavery, with the small comfort of being together, and mingling their sufferings and sorrows? %PDF-1.5 % One day they had taken a number of fishes; and when they had killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who were on deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat, as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an opportunity, when they thought no one saw them, of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured them some very severe floggings. While we stayed on the coast I was mostly on deck; and one day, to my great astonishment, I saw one of these vessels coming in with the sails up. One white man in particular I saw, when we were permitted to be on deck, flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that he died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute. One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea; immediately, another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ships crew, who were instantly alarmed.