HIS STORY V

     At last we came to the island of Barbados. Many merchants and planters came on board. They looked us over. I thought we would be eaten by these ugly men. We were taken on shore. There we were penned up together like so many sheep. The slave buyers hurried to make their choices. Families and friends were separated. Several brothers were sold in different lots.
     Let me ask you. Isn't it bad enough that we are torn from our country? That we must work to make you rich? Why must parents also lose their children? Why must husbands lose their wives? Surely this is some new form of cruelty.

     To read the narrative in it's entirety pick up a copy of the above book. To read more info on Olaudah Equiano GOOGLE his name.

AS A MATTER OF FACT!

 The arrival of a slave ship in a city was a great event. The town crier hurried through the streets shouting the news. The local paper printed it. People hurried to see the new slaves.

HIS STORY PART IV

   
     "It was dangerous to stay below decks. The air was so foul. It was unbearably hot. Many slaves became sick and died. The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying were horrible."

In his narrative, Olaudah Equiano tells what it was like to become a slave.

AS A MATTER OF FACT!

At first most slaves were shipped to islands in the CARIBBEAN. There they were sold and put to work on huge sugar cane PLANTATIONS.

Life for the slaves were so hard that many died within a few years. But there were always more Africans to take their place. The slave trade grew quickly. During the 1500's, slave ships brought about 240,000 Africans to the Americas. During the next century, the number rose to more than 1,300,000. Between 1700 and 1810, more than 6 million Africans were brought over as slaves. Millions more died during the MIDDLE PASSAGE.

HIS STORY PART III

     "I found some men of my own nation. I asked what was to be done with us. They said we were to be carried to the White people's country. We were to work for them. I still feared that I would be killed. The White people looked so savage. I had never seen anyone act so cruel."

Olaudah Equiano tells what it was like to become a slave in his narrative.

AS A MATTER OF FACT!

The first Europeans to trade for gold in West Africa were the Portuguese. But what they ultimately discovered was an endless supply of Black workers.

A slave ship took about 2-3 months to cross the Atlantic Ocean. This terrible journey of a slave ship was called the MIDDLE PASSAGE. Thousands died from disease. So many dead bodies were thrown overboard that sharks followed the ships across the ocean.

Black people first came to America as INDENTURED SERVANTS. Indentured servants worked under an agreement for a colonist for a period of seven years, after which they were freed from their contract. Being a SLAVE was for life. Slaves were property with no human rights whatsoever. They were treated as a commodity to be sold or traded at their master's whim.

HIS - STORY PART II

     "TWO OF THE WHITE MEN GAVE ME FOOD. I REFUSED TO EAT. ONE OF THEM TIED MY FEET. THE OTHER BEAT ME VERY HARD. I WOULD HAVE JUMPED OVER THE SIDE, BUT I COULD NOT. THERE WERE NETS AROUND THE SHIP. AND BESIDES THE CREW WATCHED US CLOSELY."

Olaudah Equiano  was born in Nigeria around 1745. He was captured and sent to Boston. He was around ll years old at the time.

HIS - STORY PART I

OLAUDAH EQUIANO was born in Nigeria around 1745. He was captured in West Africa when he was around 11 years old. In his own words, Olaudah Equiano tells what it was like :

"WE ARRIVED AT THE COAST. THE FIRST THING I SAW WAS A SLAVE SHIP. I WAS CARRIED ON BOARD. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE KILLED. I SAW MANY BLACK PEOPLE. THEY WERE CHAINED TOGETHER. I WAS PUT UNDER THE DECKS. A TERRIBLE SMELL GREETED MY NOSE. I BECAME SICK AND WAS NOT ABLE TO EAT...

To read the complete narrative of OLAUDAH EQUIANO Google his name and get a copy of his book. After you are familiar with his account, consider the following questions:

1 - Why was it dangerous to be on the slave ship?
2 - Why, do you think, did the slave traders beat Equiano when he would not eat?
3 - What did Equiano think of his captors?

ON THIS DAY...

3/2/1807

 

The United States Congress enacts law ending the African slave trade. The Constitution had said that Congress could ban the slave trade by the year 1808. Passing the law, however, did little good, since slave traders paid no attention to the new law, and the government did little to enforce it. Thousands of Black people continued to arrive in the U.S. in chains, because the demand for slave labor was endless.

COMING TO AMERICA

     During the 1500s, slave ships brought more than 250,000 Africans to the Americas. At first, most slaves were shipped to islands in the Caribbean where they were sold and put to work on huge sugar plantations. Soon the rapidly developing trade was spread throughout North and South America.

     Life for the enslaved Africans was hard, and many died within a few years, but there were always more to take their place. The supply seemed endless to the plantation owners and slave traders. The word of this steady supply traveled quickly.

     Soon farmers, plantation owners, and other crop growers in the American colonies also wanted Black workers. This was due in part because the Native Americans, called Indians, whom they were using as workers, died by the thousands from the hard labor, as well as the diseases they had caught from the Europeans. Others ran away. The need for an adequate supply of  labor was in huge demand.

     When a slave ship arrived in a city of the American colonies, it was a great event. The news was shouted throughout the streets by the town crier. The local newspapers printed stories and ran classified ads for sales on human cargo. People hurried to the auction blocks to see the new arrivals.

     The haggard Black slaves, dressed in  rags, could not understand the strange language these white people spoke. They did not know what would happen to them in this new world in which they found themselves. It would not be long, however, before they  would come to an understanding of what coming to America was all about.