1. SLAVE NARRATIVE
-Autobiography of a slave
-Exposes horrors of human bondage
-Slave’s experiences from his/her point of view

2. The Middle Passage
 Enslaved Africans crossing Atlantic 
Americas
 Approx. 15 million from 1500-1800
 1 in 8
 Almost no firsthand accounts
 Education
 Reliving

3. Olaudah Equiano
 1745-1797
 Kingdom of Benin, West Africa
 Son of tribal leader
 11 years old = kidnapped, sold to British
slave traders
 2-volume autobiography

4. Olaudah Equiano
 6-10 week Atlantic voyage on slave ship
 Anchors in Barbados
 Separated from sister, taken to Virginia
 Purchased by British captain
 Works at sea
 Renamed  Gustavus Vassa
 Enslaved for 10 years

5. Olaudah Equiano
 Philadelphia
 Manages master’s finances
 Makes own money, buys freedom
 England
 Devoted to abolition of slavery
 1787- commissary of slave ship Vernon
 500 freed slaves
 Freetown, Sierra Leone  settlement

6. The Interesting Narrative of
Olaudah Equiano
 Written for white English/American reader
 Details journey
 Virtual tour of slave ship
 Cruelty of whites to Africans
 Published 1989- very popular
 By 1794  8 editions in England, 1 in U.S.
 Made society face cruelties of slavery

7. Emotional Appeals
 Evocative words
 Trigger feelings of sympathy or outrage
 Shriek rather than yell  appeals to people
who have heard someone scream in pain
 Descriptions of Africans begging for food 
appeals to people who have felt hunger