Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
England, where Equiano learned to read and write in school. He also converted
to Christianity in 1759 and was baptized in St. Margaret’s, Westminster. His
godparents, Pascal’s cousins Mary Guerin and Maynard Guerin, later attested
to details in Equiano’s autobiography, including his learning English only after
coming to England.
Pascal sold Equiano to Captain James Doran who transported Equiano to
Montserrat. There Equiano was sold to Robert King, an American Quaker. Equiano
assisted King in his business ventures and was allowed to engage in trade for his
own prot. In 1767, Equiano bought his freedom from King for forty pounds,
the amount King paid to purchase Equiano. Even as a freedman, he was almost
captured as a “runaway slave” and sent to Georgia.
Equiano traveled on scientic expeditions to the Arctic and to Central America
as well as on other sailing ventures. He eventually returned to England where he
devoted himself to ending the slave trade and the Abolitionist cause. He exposed
for examination and condemnation slave atrocities, including the Zong massacre
(1781). Because this slave ship ran low on potable water, its crew threw slaves—
who were insured as cargo—overboard in order to cash in on the insurance and
save water for the rest of the ship’s passengers. In 1789, Equiano published The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Or, Gustavus Vassa, the
African. Now considered one of the rst major slave autobiographies in English,
it became a bestseller, running through nine editions during his lifetime. It gave
rsthand details of slaves chained in ships, whipping, starvation, the division of
families, and other horrors committed by so-called Christians. It became a forceful
weapon in the ght against slavery, leading to the Slave Trade Act of 1807 which
ended the African slave trade for Britain and its colonies. It directly inuenced other
slave narratives, such as Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.
His narrative is characterized by its vivid imagery, humanity, and commitment
to Christianity in the face of almost unbearable cruelty and struggle.
3.11.1 From The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano: Or, Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written
by Himself
(1789)
Chapter I
The Author’s account of his country, and their manners and customs—
Administration of justice—Embrenché—Marriage ceremony, and public
entertainments—Mode of living—Dress—Manufactures—Buildings—Commerce—
Agriculture—War and Religion—Superstition of the natives—Funeral ceremonies
of the priests or magicians—Curious mode of discovering poison—Some hints
concerning the origin of the author’s countrymen, with the opinions of dierent
writers on that subject.
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