Middle Passage: Equiano

Questions to Guide Study
Index of Documents
Class Calendar
Presentation Index

The primary source reading is framed by scaffolds to help students analyze the text. Green buttons give students questions to help analyze text. Blue buttons take students back to work earlier in course where we first studied and tried to make sense of historical analysis. Try the blue button for "determine type of source."

The Middle Passage:
The Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African

Problems in World History
History as a Discipline
Graphic of the Structure of History

Identify key vocabulary

Create storyline or a summary

Identify author

Determine type of source

Select and organize key ideas

Post a reaction to Global Conference

Logon to read Global Conference

When I was carried up on board I was immediately handled, and tossed up, to see if I were sound, by some of the crew; and I was ... persuaded that I had got into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me . . . I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had experienced in my life; so that , with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat . . . but soon to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, . . . and tied my feet while they flogged me severely,
We were to be carried to these white people's country to work for them . . . . But still I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted . . . in so savage a manner ; for I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty; and this not only [shown] toward us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves. One white man in particular I saw, when we were to be permitted on deck, flogged so unmercifully with a large rope, that he died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they have done a brute. This made me fear these people the more.
The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us were permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air. The closeness of the space, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us . . . . The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.
Two of my wearied countrymen, who were chained together, ... preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings, and jumped into the sea; immediately another quite dejected fellow . . . also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ship's crew, who were instantly alarmed . . . .[The] two...wretches were downed, but they got the other, and afterwards flogged him unmercifully, for attempting to prefer death to slavery. In this manner we continued to undergo more hardships . . . which are inseparable from this accursed trade.

Consider what shaped this account

Assess internal validity

Corroborate with other sources

Assess significance

Create supporting or contesting links

Pose counterfactuals

Source:From Gustavus Vassa, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself,(London, 1793 ), pp. 46-53
Entire excerpt taken from John J. McNamara, The transatlantic African Slave Trade, in World History: Global Connections in an Age of European Power, 1750 - 1900 (Princeton: Woodrow Wilson Foundation, 1993), 109-117
Top

Contact: Bob Bain at bbain@umich.edu

Identify Key Vocabulary
- What words confuse you?
- Are there words that seem important to this source?
  
  Back to text
  - "a salutation in my nostrils" salutation means greeting. What do you think he means by this phrase?
  - "loathsomeness of stench" loathsome means distasteful, hateful
  - "flogged me severely" flogged means whipped
  - "flogged so unmercifully" unmercifully means"without mercy"
  - "inseparable from this accursed trade" inseparable means "cannot be removed" What do you think he means by this accursed trade?
  Back to text
Create Storyline/summary
- What story does this passage tell?
- What are the key facts? Put these together to retell it in your own words.
  Back to text or More Help
  - What happened when Equiano first came on board?
  - How did he feel when he received the "salutation in [his] nostrils"?
  - Why did he refuse food? What happened?
  - What were his fears?
  - What sights and sounds did he experience?
  - How did other Africans respond to being placed on board?
    Back to text
Identify Author
- An African who was captured and enslaved. He made the Middle Passage, as described in this source. Equiano learned many languages and became useful to his master as a translator and negotiator for purchasing other Africans. Eventually, he was able to acquire enough money to purchase his freedom. He then became a strong abolitionist. Equiano wrote his autobiography, from which this is an excerpt.
  Back to text
Determine the Type of Source
- Is this a primary source? A secondary source?
  Back to text
  - Do you think Equiano was describing an event he participated in? Why?
  - When do you think he wrote about this?
  - How do you think he got is information to create this account?
    Back to text
Assess Internal Validity
- Do you see any contradictions within the document?
- Are there any places that are not consistent?
- Could Equiano have seen and done the things claimed here?
  Back to text
Author's Perspective
- What attitudes does Equiano reveal?
- Does he reveal a bias here?
- Is this ethnocentric? How? Why?
- Look at the adjectives he is using to describe his experience. How would you describe those adjectives?
- How did you feel reading this? Do you think Equiano wanted you to have that feeling? Why?
  Back to text
  - What does Equiano think about what he describes? How do you know?
  - Why do you think he wrote this passage? Or wrote his autobiography? Why do you think that?
  - What words does he use to describe the white men? Look particularly at the words that describe them while beating others.
  - What words does he use to describe the Africans?
  - Who does Equiano identify with here? How do you know?
    Back to text
Corroborate with other sources
- What evidence supports this source?
- What evidence contests this source?
  Back to text
  - Equiano describes the sights and smells. Do you have any information that supports this description? Could he have been exaggerating? Why explains your thinking?
  - How did crew handle sick? Dying? Other documents describe this element of the Middle Passage?
  - Equiano gives us a picture of resistance on board ship. Do we know if this resistance was unique to Equiano's experience? How do we know?
    Back to text
Significance
- Is the event described important? Why? To whom?
- Is this document significant? Why? To whom?
  Back to text
  - Did Middle Passage meet our tools for determining significance?
    - Did it impact daily life or institutions of many people?
    - Has it had a long lasting impact?
    - Was are unique or rare event?
    - Did it generate changes in thought or action?
      Explain and support.
      Back to text
Supporting and contesting links
- Suggest a link that supports Equiano's account. Send your suggestion to the Class Conference .
- Suggest a link that supports Equiano's account. Send your suggestion to the Class Conference.
  Back to text
Counterfactuals
- Suggest a counterfactual question. Send your counterfactual question to the
  Back to text

The Middle Passage:The Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African

The Middle Passage:
The Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African