Comparing Equiano and Douglass

Slave Narratives

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Please respond to at least two of the discussion prompts with short answers by Monday, 22 June. Your posts should total at least 300 words.

1. Comparing Equiano and Douglass

Both Equiano, writing in the 18th Century, and Douglass, writing in the 19th Century, offer revealing glimpses of slavery from the inside. Their narratives share many qualities but are also suprisingly different. What do you think is the greatest similarity between these narratives? What is the greatest difference? Try to be as specific as possible. Finally, WHY do you think this similarity or difference exists? How do you account for it?

2. Out of Africa

Equiano, despite having many opportunities over the course of his life to escape from slavery, chose instead to earn money and buy his freedom, which he finally managed, after years of hard work, by paying his final owner, the Quaker Robert King, 20 pounds sterling. He chose not to escape but to emancipate himself using lawful means because of his Christian faith (specifically, his belief in predestination, that he was fated to become a slave, and that his freedom was up to God’s will rather than his own).

Keeping this in mind, what, given the evidence from this early portion of his autobiography, does Equiano’s attitude toward the white European/North Atlantic culture seem to be? Does he respect whites? How does he see himself and his African culture relative to the white slaveholders and their culture? Does his attitude toward the whites change over time? As always, support your comments with a quote (or two) from the text.