Question

1. Analyze two passages about the Atlantic slave trade and then answer the questions.

Passage 1: Olaudah Equiano

This passage is from the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, an African man sold into slavery.


The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast was the sea, and a slave ship . . . waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror. . . . I was immediately handled and tossed up to see if I were sound by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had got into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. . . . I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and with my crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat. . . . I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me . . . and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. . . . But still I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen such instances of brutal cruelty; and this is not only shown towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves.


Passage 2: Alexander Falconbridge

This passage is a firsthand account of a British doctor who worked aboard slave ships. He later became an advocate for ending the slave trade.


On being brought aboard the ship, [the men] are immediately fastened together, two and two, by hand-cuffs on their wrists and by irons riveted on their legs. They are then sent down between the decks and placed in an apartment partitioned off for that purpose. The women also are placed in a separate apartment between the decks, but without being ironed. An adjoining room on the same deck is appointed for the boys. Thus they are all placed in different apartments.



Questions:

a. What is one historical argument a historian might make about the Atlantic slave trade based on these sources?

b. What is one similarity and one difference in the way the two sources interpret the events described?

Answer 1

a. Based on these sources, a historian might argue that the Atlantic slave trade was a brutal and dehumanizing system that subjected African people to unimaginable suffering and cruelty. The passages describe the initial shock and terror experienced by those who were captured and taken aboard slave ships, as well as the brutal treatment they endured during the voyage.

b. One similarity in the way the two sources interpret the events described is that they both emphasize the inhumane treatment of enslaved people during the Atlantic slave trade. Both Equiano and Falconbridge describe the physical and emotional abuse endured by those who were enslaved, including being chained, confined in cramped spaces, and subjected to beatings.

One difference between the two sources is their perspective on the role of white people in the slave trade. Equiano portrays white people as savage and cruel, while Falconbridge does not explicitly blame any particular group or individual for the system of slavery. Instead, he describes the conditions and treatment of enslaved people in a matter-of-fact way, without assigning blame or moral judgment.

Step-by-step explanation: