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# 2021-05-14 - The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah
# Equiano
Book cover image
An article recommended this autobiography for those interested in
learning about the abolition movement. The author was separated from
his family, enslaved multiple times, and multiple times he wished
that he was dead. In spite of this, he was remarkably bouyant and
resourceful, always rising above situations that i would have found
crushing. This story is set prior to the legal abolition of slavery
in England, during a time when slaves were openly bought and sold in
markets at London and Liverpool [1].
[1]
Slavery in Britain, see section Judicial decisions
It was interesting for me to read about his servitude to Mr. Robert
King, a quaker slaver who was known for being the best master at
Montserrat. Of Mr. King, the author wrote:
> If any of his slaves behaved amiss he did not beat or use them
> ill, but parted with them. This made them afraid of disobliging
> him; and as he treated his slaves better than any other man on the
> island, so he was better and more faithfully served by them in
> return.
To me this seems a sinister type of kindness, the complicity of
directly profiting from the dirty work of others.
> Being his own publisher gave Equiano control over every aspect of
> his book. For the frontispiece to the first volume, for instance,
> he chose an engraving of himself. The image is one of only a
> handful from the England of this time that show black men or women
> whose identities we know. ... Equiano had noticed the most
> popular forms of literature around him--the adventure travelogue,
> the riches-to-rags-to-riches tale, the religious convert's
> testimony--and skillfully combined elements of them all.
From: https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/06/olaudah-equianos-autobiography-t…
Below are quotes that i found interesting:
> And here I cannot forbear suggesting what has long struck me very
> forcibly, namely, the strong analogy which even by this sketch,
> imperfect as it is, appears to prevail in the manners and customs
> of my countrymen and those of the Jews, before they reached the
> Land of Promise, and particularly the patriarchs while they were
> yet in that pastoral state which is described in Genesis--an
> analogy, which alone would induce me to think that the one people
> had sprung from the other.
> In May 1769, soon after our return from Turkey, our ship made a
> delightful voyage to Oporto in Portugal, where we arrived at the
> time of the carnival. On our arrival, there were sent on board to
> us thirty-six articles to observe, with very heavy penalties if we
> should break any of them; and none of us even dared to go on board
> any other vessel or on shore till the Inquisition had sent on board
> and searched for every thing illegal, especially bibles. Such as
> were produced, and certain other things, were sent on shore till
> the ships were going away; and any person in whose custody a bible
> was found concealed was to be imprisoned and flogged, and sent into
> slavery for ten years.
Related links:
Equiano's World
Amazing Grace @Wikipedia
Amazing Grace @IMDB
author: Equiano, Olaudah, 1745-1797
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Olaudah_Equiano
LOC: HT869.E6 A3
source: gopher://gopher.pglaf.org/1/1/5/3/9/15399/
tags: biography,ebook,history,non-fiction,slave narrative
title: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
# Tags
biography
ebook
history
non-fiction
slave narrative
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