A famous slave : Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano was born into a rich West African family in 1745. Olaudah Equiano's father was a village chief. He had seven children and many slaves, so Equiano grew up in a slave society. But it was a different kind of slavery.
When he was eleven, Equiano was captured by African slave traders: The slave traders separated Equiano from his sister and sold him again and again. Eventually on the Africa's Atlantic coast he saw a slave ship. But he had no idea what lay ahead. No Africans had ever returned from the Americas.
The journey from Africa to America was called "The Middle Passage”. Slavers packed three or four hundred Africans into a ship in terrible conditions. Up to 25 percent of a slave ship's Africans died during the voyage. The slave ship carrying Olaudah Equiano and hundreds of other Africans finally reached the Barbados.
No one purchased Equiano, who was still just a boy of 12. So, he was shipped north to a plantation in Virginia. There he was shocked to see the instruments used to control and punish slaves.
Equiano was soon sold again. His new owner was a lieutenant in the British navy named Michael Henry Pascal. Equiano learned to be a sailor. He was sold again. Eventually he saved 40 pounds (equal to about $3,700 today). That was enough to purchase his freedom.
As a freeman, Equiano continued working as a sailor for years. He traveled widely, but his personal struggle against racism and slavery continued. In 1789, he wrote his autobiography. Olaudah Equiano died in 1797. Ten years later, Britain and the United States abolished the slave trade.
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