Please choose one of the topics below for your essay.
(A) Olaudah Equiano and Transatlantic World
Please think about Equiano’s life as part of a growing web of exploitative connections that tied Africa to the European colonies in the Americas and to Europe.
- What was the difference between slavery in Africa as described by Equiano and slavery as he experienced it?
- African labor was exploited in many ways to build the colonies in the Americas. What was Equiano’s experience, and to what extent were those common or extraordinary?
- Think about service in the Royal Navy, education and literacy as tools used to gain his freedom.
(B) Equiano as an Abolitionist Writer
Please make an argument for why Olaudah
Equiano’s account became such an important document for the abolitionist cause in Britain. Think about moral, religious, and economic arguments his account includes.