Talk:Olaudah Equiano

Biography assessment rating comment

WikiProject Biography Assessment

Could be a B class with some cleanup and inline citations.

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- Yamara 17:53, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Discussion

From the reading I have done it was Pascal not King who educated Equiano, no? (http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/biog.htm) & (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p276.html) HybridFusion 03:20, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

hellp

Quality of the article

I am not a specialist on Olaudah Equiano, but I hope one who can correct this badly written article will read it. I shall not even go into the details, but the English is terrible, the grammar is appalling, the spelling is done in heist and furthermore, even the name of the title hero is shown in two different versions: Olaudah and Olandah. In my sincere opinion articles like this, give Wikipedia a bad name. I wish I knew enough on the subject matter to edit it myself, but that is not the case. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ruskiman (talk • contribs) 15:07, 22 December 2006 (UTC).

haste? Zigzig20s 04:40, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Discussion text which makes the article read more like a student essay

I would suggest placing this here, rather than in the article. If anyone has a better suggestion please improve.

Birth in colonial America or West Africa ?

1. Written Evidence:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Equiano's baptismal record at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, dated 9 February 1759, records that he was born in 'Carolina'; a Royal Navy muster roll from Constantine Phipp’s Arctic expedition of 1773 says that Equiano was born in 'South Carolina'. In both cases, the information almost certainly came from Equiano himself; there are no primary sources.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Equiano's own autobiography, 'The Interesting Narrative...' tells us that he was born in West Africa. This information also comes from Equiano himself.

2. Circumstantial Biographical Evidence:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Equiano gets the dates wrong about the ships in which he was brought from America to England which would be consistent with him having made this part of his story up. Equiano's account of his life is usually very accurate when it can be checked against independent or primary sources, making it surprising that his account of his first ten years can be shown to be inaccurate in parts. Equiano is not recorded as having used the name "Equiano" before publishing his autobiography. All his friends and acquaintances knew him by the name "Gustavus Vassa". He probably made up the name "Olaudah Equiano" as part of the careful construction of an African persona he carried out in 1789.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in West Africa - Although Equiano gets the dates wrong about the ships in which he was brought from America to England, he was a very young child at the time, and suffering a severe trauma, so it is reasonable to assume that his memory might sometimes be at fault. Equiano's account of his life is usually very accurate when it can be checked against independent sources, showing that it was his usual practice to tell the truth as far as he could remember. Although Equiano never used his birth name before 1789, this was not unusual. Few slaves or former slaves used their African names. Equiano's friend Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, for example, used his slave name of John Stuart throughout his life, except on the title page of his book (1787). "Gustavus Vassa" was not his birth name, even had he been born in colonial America, it was given to him later by a master.

3. Equiano's Motivation:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Equiano's main motivation was to end the slave trade, so he would write or say anything in his published work that he thought he could get away with, as long as it brought the abolition of the slave trade, and slavery itself, closer. Equiano had nothing to hide in his early life, so he told the truth about his birthplace to the church clerk at his baptism and to the naval officer who compiled the muster roll in which he gave his birthplace as South Carolina.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Equiano's main motivation was to end the slave trade, end slavery, and establish free settlements in West Africa, so he would be very careful to tell the truth in his published work and not write or say anything that might bring him or his campaign into disrepute. Equiano had been born in West Africa but now had to make the best of his new life and circumstances, and there was little point in making an issue about his origins, now that his life was in the 'New World' he gave this as his 'adopted' birthplace.

4. Close Reading of the Text:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Much of the early part of 'The Interesting Narrative...', in which Equiano describes West Africa and the Middle Passage, closely resembles similar accounts made by European or American authors, for example, by Anthony Benezet. Equiano probably invented his African childhood, and copied information out of books such as these. The parts of 'The Interesting Narrative...' that describe West Africa and the Middle Passage have a mythological style that makes them unreliable as history.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Much of the early part of 'The Interesting Narrative...', in which Equiano describes West Africa and the Middle Passage, closely resembles similar accounts made by European or American authors, for example, by Anthony Benezet, yet Equiano references many of these works, as would anyone giving a true account, having consulted them in order to help him remember the details of a distant childhood and out of genuine interest in the geography and social anthropology of his homeland. The parts of The Interesting Narrative...' that describe West Africa and the Middle Passage are strengthened by this example of thorough research and show that he took his work very seriously and wanted to write to a very high standard.

5. Contemporary Expectations:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Readers in the eighteenth century were not fools, and demanded the same high level of honesty and veracity that we would now expect. However, Equiano knew that it would be very difficult for his readers to check the truth, or otherwise, of his account. In the late eighteenth century, there were more poems, plays, and novels written against slavery than there were 'serious' political tracts. Readers would thus have been more interested in hearing general truths about slavery than particular histories, and so wouldn't have cared so much about whether the details of Equiano's story were true.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Readers in the eighteenth century were not fools, and demanded the same high level of honesty and veracity that we would now expect. Thus, Equiano would not have tried to get away with telling a lie about his African origins - somebody, somewhere, would have known the truth. In the late eighteenth century, there were more poems, plays, and novels written against slavery than there were 'serious' political tracts. Equiano would have known that, to be taken seriously, he had to appear as more than just a writer of fiction, but as someone who could write to a very high literary standard, and tell the whole truth.

6. The Realities of Equiano's Life:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Even though Equiano was born in Carolina, he was a long way from home and, by the 1780s, could get away with saying anything he liked about his past, particularly since communications between England and America had been disrupted in the war of 1775-1783. When Equiano was asked for his place of birth during his childhood baptism, he may not have had at that time a sufficient mastery of the legal protocols or legalistic language to give the answer that is normally expected (for example, if he had been asked 'where are you from', he may have understood it as 'where have you recently come from'); however, if this was the case, there is no reason why, as an adult and a fluent English speaker, he would continue to say that he had been born in Carolina, as he later did when joining Constantine Phipp’s Arctic expedition of 1773.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Despite the war, links between England and America were still close. Had he been lying, sooner or later someone in America would have detected his falsehood, particularly after his book was published in New York in 1791. Equiano knew that the most intensive search would be made by proslavery campaigners to discredit him. Therefore, he would not have attempted to invent a new identity and birthplace. When Equiano was asked for his place of birth during his childhood baptism, he may not have had at that time a sufficient mastery of the legal protocols or legalistic language to give the answer that is normally expected (for example, if he had been asked 'where are you from', he may have understood it as 'where have you recently come from'); and once the mistake was in writing on his baptismal record, he might have chosen to simply accept the error as unimportant.

7. Equiano's Psychological State:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - As a terrified and traumatised child, the young Equiano would have been too afraid to tell anything other than the truth when asked for his place of birth at his baptism ceremony.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - As a terrified and traumatised child, the young Equiano may have been too afraid to tell the truth when asked for his place of birth at his baptism ceremony. Many children, especially traumatised children, invent stories to explain their origins. Many such people come to terms with their trauma in later life. This might explain why Equiano tells one story when younger, and another when older.

8. The Bottom Line:

• The bottom line is that we just don't know. As the above list shows, there is evidence on both sides of the debate. Just about the only thing we can say for certain is that, when he was younger, Equiano told people he was from Carolina, but when he was older, he told people he was from West Africa. Whether you believe the younger Equiano or the older Equiano is entirely up to you...

Jolayemi 23:17, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I would agree to remove it from the article and leave it here instead. Zigzig20s 04:55, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

This text was plagiarized from http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/nativity.htm (Text © Brycchan Carey 2003-2005) It should be removed immediately. However, because it is also one of the best sources examining the two sides of this issue, the article should have a link in the section that discusses Equiano's origin.Josh a brewer 07:26, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Comment on my edit

I have moved chunks of this article around, with the intention of providing a straightforward account of his life, leaving material as to scholarly controversy to the end. I have to confess that I know little of the subject and have undertaken this 'blind'. I hope the result is an improvement. I have not removed the cleanup and essay tags, because I do not feel qualified to do so, but hope there is some one else who can. I hope the stylistic probelms are resolved, but not necessarily those of content. Peterkingiron 14:36, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

A prince?

In the film, Amazing Grace, he refers to himself as someone who was born a prince in Africa. What veracity is there to the claim that he was a prince? Generally, what was the social status of his family background? Dogru144 15:16, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Yes, sadly the film doesn't have much to do with history. Equiano is made to stand in for all slaves synecdochically, be they African American, African Caribbean, or African Princes. In other words, the film does not clear up whether or not Equiano was a prince from Africa or a pauper from South Carolina (though they do cleverly work in a reference to this as a strategy designed to silence him). Incidentally, during Equiano's lifetime some people claimed that he was from the Caribbean, though he denied these accounts.Josh a brewer 07:25, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Duplication

The section headed "Pioneer of the abolitionist cause" to some extent duplicates the earlier section with an account of his life - does someone who knows about the narrative he wrote want to give a better comment on it and leave the life-story to the earlier section? In common with earlier editors of this page I fear I'm coming at it blind, I hope my edits for clarity and grammar have improved things slightly. Euryanthe 12:01, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Slavery in England

Actually neither edit summary is really correct. The 1807 Act abolished slavery in British overseas colonies; to quote myself at Cesar Picton:

"The status of slaves imported into England was legally ambiguous and unclear when Picton arrived, but they were certainly not regarded or treated in the same way as slaves in the British American colonies. The situation was clarified considerably by Somersett's Case of 1772, which although the details are unclear when analysed by lawyers, was generally taken to hold than no person could be a slave in England itself (confirming other reported judgements of 1567 and 1702). Many white apprentices and workers of the time would be classified as near-slaves, though in a time-limited way, by modern standards, and already most black servants seem to have been regarded and treated as free, at least by the time they reached adulthood.

- but there are odd cases of young boys being advertised for sale after 1772. I will remove the reference, which is not really accurate if quoted correctly, & replace with a link to Somersett Johnbod 02:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

With the exception of blacks brought here as domestic servants by planters, there has never been slavery in England, at least not since the Norman period. However, there were phenomena that may be mistaken for it:

• Advertisements concerning apprenticing poor children, which was partly a means of providing for their maintenance and education.
• The transportation of convicts, who arrived in America, and were sold as indentured servants for a term to pay for theri passage. Peterkingiron 21:29, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

That's the theory; in practice things had sometimes been more complicated. Johnbod 21:49, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Editing References and External links

Here are links that are useful for studying the slave trade, but either don't mention, or don't focus on, Equiano:

• Scotland and the Abolition of the Slave Trade - schools resource.
• Teaching resources about Slavery and Abolition on blackhistory4schools.com.

I've cut them from the page, but I'm reposting them here it case they're useful to someone else. --Yamara 19:45, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Equiano's Igbo name

A user named "Black plague" makes the following statement: "'Equiano' is how the man rendered his name in English in the 1700's, obviously in a time before the Igbo language had a standard written orthography. Ekwuano is how it's rendered in modern Igbo." In response, I posit that the question is simply this: How does Equiano's name appear in his own writing and in secondary sources about him? Cite a relevant secondary source that gives his name in the modern Igbo, and then we'll talk.Josh a brewer 09:54, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Slaver?

"In addition to being a slave as a young man, he was also a slaver, seaman, merchant, and explorer in South America, the Caribbean, the American colonies, Britain, and the North Pole." He was an anti-slvery activist and a slaver? That makes no sense. Can anyone verify this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Quaoarian (talk • contribs) 19:04, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, he writes about this in Chapter XI of his autobiography. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.252.216.85 (talk) 13:41, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Missing references

Should this article not contain some reference to the "Sons of Africa" - the lobby group that Equiano was part of?

The BBC mentions it briefly on their page ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/equiano_olaudah.shtml

ETis 23:54, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, go ahead and add it! --JayHenry 00:41, 24 October 2007 (UTC)