Document Interpretation #2:

The Middle Passage, Olaudah Equiano

Questions:

Typically, the actions of Europeans engaging in the slave trade are viewed as cruel for
the sake of being cruel. In reading the document do you notice any other motivations for
the cruelty of slave drivers?

Equiano notes that, I found some black people about me, who I believe were some of
those who brought me on board, and had been receiving their pay What may this
reveal about the nature of the slave trade and/or challenge how you thought it was
carried out?

First off let me start by saying reading this document was absolutely heartbreaking. In the
past, I have read a lot of excerpts from people who were a part of The Middle Passage, but none
of them even come close to how eye opening this one was. These people were treated as
disposable objects, and it honestly seemed like the crewmen on the ship saw no value in human
life. They were shoved under the deck with no room for movement, they were essentially seen
and treated as valueless cargo. The author of this excerpt describes the scene of being under the
deck as complete inconceivable horror. Adults and children were suffocating and dying left and
right, and the smell of the sweat and death filled the air. Even when given the miracle of getting
fresh air by being moved onto the deck, the horror of what was going on under could still be
heard, smelled, and seen. Tubs of dead bodies were always being carried up and the cries and
pleas of those under them rose up to the deck. Their treatment was so unnecessarily awful that
death seemed better than being on the ship and being put into slavery. So much so that some of

those who were netted on deck took any chance they hand to jump off the ship in an attempt of
suicide. Those who did not die and could not get away from the ships were flogged/ beaten to a
pulp. Those who were hungry and tried to sneak even the smallest piece of food shared the same
fate.
When Equiano noted that there were "some black people about me, who I believe were some
of those who brought me on board, and had been receiving their pay..." she kind of finalized an
idea of mine about the slave trade. I had often questioned how they even got the slaves so
peacefully from their homes, and the answer was none other than the common cause of evil,
money. It is sad to think that someone would be ale to sell someone and force them into such an
awful lifestyle. Unfortunately, it was a reality, and it would have honestly been a lot messier if
they did not agree to sell some slaves to the slave drivers. They more than likely taken the slaves
by force and it would have been worse for the slaves and the ones who were selling them to the
slave drivers. It was the better of the two evils, and although it is awful they did what they had
to.
There was no motivation for this treatment, they were just cruel awful human beings who
saw no value for human life. It is so astonishing to think that someone could take a human being
and treat them like an object with no purpose but work and death. They acted as though the
treatment they were inflicting on these worn down, tired, starving, and sick people was somehow
deserved. However, there was a moment of niceness before arriving in Barbadoes- one of the
mariners allowed the author to look through a quadrant. Bringing a moment of escape into her
life, she felt magical and free- a short-lived moment but a nice one none the less. Of course, this
action was done by someone who was not a slave driver, which may explain the kind behavior.

Either way, the awful and disgusting mistreatment that occurred on these ships was both
unnecessary and without motive.