The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast was the sea, a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. This source is a part of the Children in the Slave Trade and the Childhood and Transatlantic Slavery teaching modules. Yet, Equiano was put in the hold with the adults, giving him a different experience entirely. As a child, he should have traveled the Middle Passage on deck, unfettered with the slave women and children. What is particularly important about this source, however, is Equiano's placement into the hold of the slave ship. For Equiano, a child of 11, this experience was one he could not understand. Many Africans who survived the coffles and made their way to the coast had never seen a white man, let alone the ocean or a slave ship. His narrative is extremely valuable not only for the wealth of information it presents on children's experiences in the slave trade, but also for those examining the abolitionist movement in England during this period of time. Olaudah Equiano, kidnapped at age 11, became one of the most prominent English abolitionists of the 18th century. Until recently, slave studies rarely discussed children's experiences, but it has been estimated that one quarter of the slaves who crossed the Atlantic were children. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, an estimated 20 million Africans crossed the Atlantic to the Americas in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2023
Categories |