Olaudah Equiano 
The Interesting Narrative of the Life 
of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African
First Published London, 1789 NOTE: the following text is one African’s account of the “middle passage”: the horrible trip that slaves had to endure to arrive in the Americas. Slaves were captured in Africa, carried to the seacoast, sold to European traders, then carried on slave ships to the New World. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) To what extent is African slavery, as described in Equiano’s account, different from slavery practiced by Europeans in the Atlantic economy?‬
2) Based on information in this passage, to what extent can white people be blamed for the African slave trade?‬
3) Equiano later rose to be an advocate for the abolition of the slave trade. To what degree do you think that his biography is biased, colored by his political agenda?‬

1. I hope the reader will not think I have trespassed on his patience in introducing myself to him with some account of the manners and customs of my country. They had been implanted in me with great care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase, and which all the adversity and variety of fortune I have since experienced served only to rivet and record; for, whether the love of one's country be real or imaginary, or a lesson of reason, or an instinct of nature, I still look back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow. 

2. I have already acquainted the reader with the time and place of my birth. My father, besides many slaves, had a numerous family, of which seven lived to grow up, including myself and a sister, who was the only daughter. As I was the youngest of the sons, I became, of course, the greatest favorite with my mother, and was always with her; and she used to take particular