Olaudah Equiano Thesis

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The Journey of Olaudah
(An Informative Text on the Slave Trade) The North American Slave Trade began when slave traders started to kidnap people of all ages from West Africa. They were forced to endure unspeakable horrors on their trek across the Atlantic as well as when they were finally sold into slavery in the Americas. Olaudah Equiano was one of the few Africans to document his experience on paper, and have his two volume autobiography published. The journey Olaudah suffers through showed the horrors of the trip across the atlantic, but also showed how what he thought and felt about the process as well. To begin, Olaudah’s perspective during the journey was different than you might think. Do not be mistaken, he did not have a positive mentality about being sold into slavery. He did however have a sort of wonder about the world and a hope that he carries with him throughout his life. As said by Olaudah pg. 174, “This heightened my wonder; and i was now more persuaded than ever that i was in another world and that everything about me …show more content…

They were packed into ships so tight you could barely turn yourself around. On top of that, many people were dying of disease because they were forced to live among their own filth, and the dead and diseased. It was all just on continuous circle of death and suffering and disease. They were all oxygen deprived and the air below deck was so incredibly rank it was basically impossible to breathe. They were beaten mercilessly, and tortured with the prospect of food and water, but hardly received any of either. As Olaudah said, the white men aboard the ship once caught too many fish for themselves, and instead of feeding them to the Africans, they just tossed them over board. Most of them died along the way, mainly the sick, young, and very old. Those people aboard the ships had to endure the hardships that today, people only read

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