Olaudah Equiano Essay

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Throughout the course of history documentation of important events and specific individuals has always seen an abundance of attention. Various characters throughout history however, are sometimes painted in a false light due to having characteristics that are either shameful or portray the individual in a different way than the author intends them to be. This often leads to embellished storytelling, deletion of certain aspects of an individuals personality or a complete adjustment of an important event. The pairs of people that we have gone over this semester are not excluded from this type of documentation. It is my goal of this research paper to examine two pairs of the individuals we have gone over and decide whether or not we could be receiving …show more content…

The historical inconsistencies present in Olaudahs case are very clear and how we view him is based off of these irregularities. As stated by our author, “ controversies surrounding Equiano’s origins have continued to this day with recent publications” (Cite, page8). Though at first he labeled himself an African, claiming to be born in what is now Northeastern Nigeria, after his publication of Interesting Narrative his birth origins shifted. There was some controversy with some claiming that he had been born in the West Indies, for which people who knew him best defended this accusation by explaining how he could barely communicate with English. This further backed up the Nigerian claim however, in the 1960’s some Historians discovered that there was no conclusive results that he had ever been born in Nigeria nor could anyone find the location of the village he claimed to have been from. This characterization of false information sheds some light on Olaudah Equiano and begs the question on where was he actually from and whether or not he committed lies. The birth place of any person is relevant to understanding their personality, culture and individual character are closely tied to one another. The culture you were born into often effects not just your perspective on various aspects of life but commands your outlook on other countries, provides you with reasons and logic for certain actions and describes common traits amongst your

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