The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

							 The Interesting Narrative of
the Life of Olaudah Equiano:
   Deconstructing a Slave
           Narrative

     Dr. Kevin B. Witherspoon
          Equiano: a Slave
• The life of a slave
  –   African beginnings
  –   Abduction
  –   The Middle Passage
  –   Slavery in the Americas
  –   Treatment of slaves
  –   Earning his freedom
      Equiano: a Free Man
• Life as a free black man
  – The trials of freedom
  – Continued mistreatment
  – Voyages
  – Quest for religion
  – Joining the abolitionist
    movement
  – Writing the book
            Life in Africa

•   His origins
•   African slave trade
•   His name
•   Capture
       The Middle Passage

•   Conditions on the ship
•   Below decks
•   Brutal treatment
•   Suicide attempts
The Middle Passage
Cruel Treatment of Slaves
Slavery: a Flexible Institution

•   The Atlantic Creole
•   Life on the seas
•   Education
•   Skills
•   Money
•   Power
•   Purchasing freedom
  Treatment of Free Blacks

• Capture/recapture
• Could not testify
• Abuse
Spirituality in Equiano
      Vassa the Abolitionist

• The economics of slavery:
  – Poor treatment is bad
    business
• Slavery degrades everyone
      Equiano as Forrest Gump

•   French & Indian War
•   Stamp Act
•   Great Awakening
•   Voyage to the Arctic
•   Quakers/Philadelphia
•   “Back to Africa”
        The Slave Narrative
• Literature of the times
  –   Travel literature
  –   Spiritual autobiography
  –   Benjamin Franklin
  –   The “noble savage”
  –   The slave narrative
    Equiano?           Or Vassa?
•   Vincent Carretta and Paul Lovejoy
•   Equiano’s birth
•   Baptismal record 1759
•   Muster roll 1773
•   Inaccuracies of early life
•   Equiano’s name
       Equiano or Vassa?
• Why would he lie?
• Dissecting the text:
  – Plagiarism?
• What does it mean?
• Does it matter to us?