Research Proposal on "Olaudah Equiano"

Research Proposal 4 pages (1503 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Equiano / Vassa

Olaudah Equiano / Gustavus Vassa

Olaudah Equiano and Gustavus Vassa are of course the same person with two distinct identities. Equiano did not choose Gustavus Vassa as a name; Equiano became known as Gustavus Vassa because an officer in the British Royal Navy gave it to him, a slave owner named Michael Henry Pascal. Having a name like Gustavus Vassa apparently gave Equiano (in the eyes of Pascal) more European legitimacy and dignity. And it matched up near perfectly with Equiano's desire to be modern, polite, educated and polished like Caucasians. And so there were clear purposes to this duel identity: a) being Equiano gave the man a link to his native culture and gave him justification to write at length of his slave experiences. And b) being Vassa gave the man a European identity and the credibility to write and have his work published as a man of letters and vast New World experience.

Moreover, being Vassa gave him the dignity to join the abolitionist movement and become a man of some wealth, and yet being Equiano gave him the first-hand experience of slavery to speak from (and publish historical documents from) the front lines of the slave world.

Introduction

There is no doubt that Olaudah Equiano was an extraordinary man for his time, and a writer of great talent. And yet there are serious questions as to his roots, his origins and as to some of his beliefs about slavery and the abolition of slavery. For example, author Vincent Carretta, writing in Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man, insists "recent biographical discoveries have cast doubt on Equaino's story of his birth and early years" (Carretta, 2005, xiv). Carretta goes on to suggest that the "available evidence" points to the fact that Equiano "may have invented rather than reclaimed an African identity" (Carretta, xiv).

Going farther into the issue, author Carretta says that "Baptismal and naval records" reflect that Equiano was born in South Carolina "around 1747." If that is true, then Equiano (also known as Gustavus Vassa) basically invented his childhood in Africa, and also made up his writings about being a kidnapped, captured African citizen on a Middle Passage slave ship. Does it really matter where he was born? Professor Paul El Lovejoy of York University in Canada believes it is important; in Lovejoy's scholarly research into African Diaspora he believes that "...Vassa's claim to an African birth should be accepted" (Lovejoy, 2007, p. 121).

If Vassa invented an African birth," Lovejoy writes in the journal Slavery and Abolition, "Carretta does not explain satisfactorily when he would have done this" (Lovejoy, p. 122). Lovejoy does admit that Equiano "...did not always tell the truth and he did embellish memory" (Lovejoy, p. 123). Lovejoy also suggests that if Equiano "...had lied, it would have mattered...to Vassa's friends and acquaintances whom he would have fooled... [and] in matters for the historical record" (Lovejoy, p. 124). Lovejoy does go on to say that Carretta's biography of Equiano is "authoritative" and that Carretta's edition of the Equiano biography is "...the best that is available."

Questions for consideration: Who was he and in what ways did Equiano present himself as an African? Equiano claims to have been a native of Africa; he writes that he was born an Igbo in 1745 (the Igbo ethnic group originated in Nigeria) and that he came to the West Indies on a slave ship at the age of 11, although Carretta believes Equiano was more like 7 or 8 years old at the time of his kidnapping (Carretta p. 8). Equiano explains in his autobiography (quoted often by Carretta) that he was trained by his mother in "...the arts of agriculture and war" and learned to throw javelins. Throughout his book, Carretta challenges Equiano's assertions about his upbringing and experiences in Africa. And yet he uses Equiano's narrative to fully inform the reader about the African / Igbo society, because Equiano is recognized as an important writer and chronicler of the culture.

Equiano wants those who read his book to know that some of his slave experiences were wonderfully human. "Indeed every thing here, and all their treatment of me, made me forget that I was a slave" (Carretta, p. 26). Equiano also linked his own African culture to experiences he had; when he went from the West Indies to the Atlantic Coast of what is now America, he "...was very much struck with this difference...among a people who did not circumcise" and who ate "without washing their hands" (Carretta, p. 26). Equiano wants his readers to know that he was culturally and socially above some of the slaves that had been taken from other parts of Africa. He almost seemed to be rejecting his African heritage on page 27 and welcoming a European image for himself: "They wanted to ornament me [with scars and filed teeth]...but I would not suffer them; hoping that I might some time be among a people who did not thus disfigure themselves" (Carretta, p. 27).

Equiano's seemingly ongoing obsession to be like Europeans (and have a European identity) comes through in many passages. In Chapter 2 he tried "washing" his face to see if it would come out the same color as his play-mate Mary; "...but it was all in vain; and I now began to be mortified at the difference in our complexions" (Carretta, p. 72). While on the island of Montserrat in the West Indies it was again apparent that his European identity was preferable to that climate. "I had so long been used to an European climate that at first I felt the scorching West-India sun very painful..." which is an ironic statement for a man of African heritage (Carretta, p. 93-94). It could also be the complaint of a man - notwithstanding the color of his skin or his native culture - who had clearly adopted Europe and England in particular as his culture of preference.

Why did Equiano adopt a complicated notion of self-identity? What purpose did it serve? Having a complicated self-identity wasn't what he set out to do. Clearly, he was a highly intelligent individual who had been abducted from his homeland and his family and hauled away to perform forced labor. It can certainly be assumed from his rich narratives that he was lucky he was sold to - and owned by - merciful slave masters. His humane treatment, if he is to be believed, allowed him to move from one identity to the next almost seamlessly. His service in the Royal Navy taught him much more than just what one does on the high seas to keep the ship operating smoothly. The "talents and skills he had developed and learned while in the navy" - which included administration, interaction with officers, and more - kept him somewhat above the level of slaves who were obliged to do "backbreaking labor" on Montserrat's sugar plantation (Carretta, p. 96).

Identities in fact fascinated Equiano; he observed that slave societies "...could not prosper without the contributions of educated and skilled slaves" (Carretta's words, p. 97), and hence, since he knew some arithmetic and was not locked into one particular identity, his new master, Robert King, offered him a job that would provide him a chance to use his skills in yet another new identity. He worked as a clerk, and "...before long, there was scarcely any part of [King's] business, or household affairs," which he did not participate in (Carretta, p. 97). And when Equiano bought his own freedom he quickly learned that a freed black man still face serious problems and restrictions. But still he showed the innate leadership skills when, rather than allow slaves to drown, he led a mutiny against the commanding officer of the Nancy. Had… READ MORE

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