term paper History with sample paper

The Horrors of a Slave Ship by Olaudah Equiano

Term Paper I

Lisa Simpson

Houston Community College

HIST-1301

Professor Rodolfo C. Villarreal

June 13, 2019

The Horrors of a Slave Ship was a small excerpt from the autobiography The Interesting

Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Olaudah Equiano

published the book in 1789 and the article details the specific events that transpired from his

initial kidnapping as a young boy, to being sold as a slave. Equiano hoped that testifying his

personal experiences with slavery would help bring awareness to the importance of the anti-

slavery movement during that time.

Growing up, both Equiano and his sister were taught about war and to be aware of

kidnappers that may approach their village. The boys would get up in trees and keep watch

while their parents were away because then kidnappers would take the opportunity to attack the

village and take as many children as possible. It was during one of these misfortunate instances

that Equiano and his sister were both kidnapped. The men tied their hands, covered their mouths

and dragged them through the woods for days until they got to their destination. Shortly after,

Equiano and his sister were sold separated into slavery.

Time had passed when at one point while traveling with his master, Equiano came across

his sister and was filled with a joy that was missed. The short time that he was able to spend

with his beloved sister seemed to have made all his worries disappear. It was a joy that was short

lived because that was the last time he ever saw her. His pain grew even greater after that point

and had struggled with much more anxiety from not being able to protect her freedom or from

the unknown pain she would endure as a slave. This spoke wonders on Equiano’s character as a

brother. His family was important to him and longed to be his sister’s protector from all evils

she encountered.

The Equiano spent the next several months traveling by land and sea. During that time

he got the opportunity to experience many new things, such as new foods and animals. He even

had the chance to surround himself with people from other cultures. One memory that stood out

the most was being sold to a merchant that was predominantly wealthy. The family treated him

with the respect and dignity that he missed and waited for. He was allowed to eat with the

family at the table and was even given the opportunity to eat before the merchant’s son because

he was the eldest child in the household. The merchant treated him and the other slaves as her

own. It made Equiano feel like home and ultimately forget that he was a slave at all. But once

that momentary situation came to an end, his real pain began shortly after.

Ultimately, Equiano ended up at a coast where a slave ship awaited him and many others.

So many emotions ran through his mind. Were they going on the ship to die? Where they going

to be beaten by the masters? It did not take long thereafter when he lost all hope of returning to

his home. Equiano stepped foot inside the ship and was overwhelmed with an odor far worse

that he could imagine. Slaves were overwhelmingly piled on top of each other in small spaces,

such as the cargo area. He became sick the first day he went inside and couldn’t eat. The

Europeans then tied him up and gave him a beating because of it. They had a rule that everyone

that was on board needed to eat on a daily basis.

Equiano was lucky enough to remain on the deck of the boat while the Europeans waited

for other slaves to arrive. Equiano recalls the astonishing feeling he felt the first time he saw

another ship stop to let the passengers out. He was captivated from the sight, even to the point

where he determined that it was being done with some type of magic.

But being inside the ship was nothing that he had anticipated. The many bodies pushing

amongst one another causing a smell inside the ships had triggered a sickness amongst the

slaves. The sickness was so severe many died due to what was going on, even mothers along

with their children. During the time at sea, several slaves took it upon themselves to end their

life because the thought of suffocating one additional day in the small chambers was too

overbearing. They assumed a life with suffering was not a life worth living. Equiano suffered

from this same thought process and began to question the many things that life and religion had

to offer. His own beliefs were left with doubt and speculated why so many disheartening things

occur to people, included himself.

Slavery lasted far longer than it should have, but many brave men and women fought and

struggled to put an end to these injustices. People such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd

Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Angelina Grimke worked hard to push the agenda of the

abolitionist movement, which ultimately became known as the “anti-slavery society”. It was

many years after Olaudah published his book that slavery finally came to an end, but his efforts

were nonetheless important and left an impact. Even with all of the time and hard work it took to

get there, many years later African Americans and many other minorities still seem to struggle

with racial equality in the United States.

From racial bias associated with policing, higher sentencing and incarceration rates, to

kids dealing with differential punishments in schools, these are the facts that we face in our

current society. These issues will not disappear any time soon, and I do not believe that the

United States will ever become a racially just society. But what I do believe is that we must

continue to be vocal about these problems and fight the inequalities and policies put in place to

keep minorities stagnant. Exceeding the expectations of others is a far better victory and it is our

responsibility to prove it to ourselves that anything is achievable.

Olaudah Equiano stood brave during a time that many couldn’t or wouldn’t. He spoke in

great detail of the injustices and pain that he endured while being enslaved for reasons far bigger

than himself. He knew that exposing the unpleasant truth behind it would help push his goal to

have it abolished. The level of detail that Equiano spoke about each event that took place gave

him that much more power because he was able to learn, grow, and move forward from the

circumstances that he was presented with. This is a prime example of the importance of telling

one’s story and how it can also heavily impact an audience’s current and past circumstances.