“I believe there are few events in my life which have not happened to many; it is true the incidents of it are numerous, and, did I consider myself an European, I might say my sufferings were great; but when I compare my lot with that of most of my countrymen, I regard myself as a particular favorite of heaven, and acknowledge the mercies of Providence in every occurrence of my life.” Olaudah Equiano lived the life as a slave like many black people of the 18th century. He was born free but soon was forced into slavery which took him all around the world. From his accounts he has written down, he shows his life as a slave. Equiano had been bought and sold throughout the Americas and Europe; he showed the different faces of slavery in the different regions of the world through his accounts. It is these accounts that show the affects different “types” of slavery had on himself, his fellow slaves and his slave masters. “Equiano experienced virtually every kind of slavery and every part of the slave experience: capture in Africa, the “middle passage” from Africa to the Americas, plantation labor in Virginia and the West Indies, and ultimately service on a slave-trading ship between North America and the Caribbean.” He bounced from the tolerable slavery in Africa, to the suicidal conditions in the West Indies, to the “free” conditions throughout Europe. In the narrative of his life, he depicts and explains the life he led that no man should ever have to lead. Olaudah Equiano was born and raised for the early years in his life in a small African village in 1745. The form of slavery in this village and its surrounding neighbors was a form of punishment for crimes or prisoners captured from attacking villages. Slaves were treated with respect in the villages, they were not allowed to eat at the same table as the villagers who were born free but were provided sufficient fo...
