The Struggles of Olaudah Equiano

Essay by tdunk43High School, 12th gradeB+, April 2008

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In 1745, Olaudah Equiano was born in a small village called “Eboe,” in Nigeria. His father was one of the chiefs in the village. At age eleven Equiano and his sister were kidnapped by two men and a woman never to see his home or parents again. After being kidnapped he was dragged across parts of Africa untill he arrived at the coast where he was loaded onto a slave ship. While crossing the Atlantic to Barbados on the slave ship he and the other victims went through horrific traumatizes you could hardly imagine. Equiano explained about the horrors and torture slaves faced not only on the slave ship but also on the plantations and the other aspects of a slave's life. Equiano experienced almost all parts of a slave's existence. He was a slave throughout parts of Africa, England, and the New World. Equiano was bought and sold several times.

Religion played a huge part in Equiano's life and I think that it helped him get through some really hard times. He was bought by a British Naval officer and served in the British Navy during the Seven Years' War, he was then sold to Robert King where he began trading goods between islands and eventually made enough money to buy his freedom. Equiano explained the happiness he felt when he became a free man. The rest of his life was devoted to helping slaves and to aid the cause of abolishing slavery.

In 1756 Olaudah Equino was kidnapped and taken to a slave ship which is when his nightmare and battle with slavery began. Equiano and the others were chained together and treated extremely bad. I've never heard of animals being kept in a worse place than the slaves aboard the ship. Below decks on the ship is...