Alana Nesteruk, excerpts

 . . . In The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, we read about one of the very first slave narratives from 1789. Olaudah, also known as Gustavus, was sold by his own people in Africa, and we follow his many journeys and struggles until he is finally able to buy his freedom. This narrative really stood out to me because I had always heard that African American slaves in America had been originally sold by Africans in Africa; however, I had never read a slave narrative that went back that far.

Olaudah is very thorough in his 35-page narrative. He describes the horrors of slave captivity in many instances. People are “flogged so unmercifully,” and even a ten-year-old girl is raped by crewmembers of the ship. Olaudah interestingly describes what he doesn’t understand as magic, for example, when the crewmembers stop the ship Olaudah states, “and the white men had some spell or magic they put in the water when they liked in order to stop the vessel.”

In The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson from 1682, Mary describes her home and family being taken captive by the American Indians. This Narrative caught my attention because it was written by a woman and about a woman. It was extremely interesting to read her story because it brought much insight into the lives of the American Indians. Mary refers to the Indians as “merciless heathen,” and granted, she was taken captive and watched her family and young daughter die; however, we also are able to see that the Indians are somewhat merciful. They do not take advantage of Mary sexually as did the white men to the Africans, and they eventually bring her safely to her husband.  It was very educational to read both slave narratives and learn what their experiences were like, how they were similar, and how they differed. These two narratives gave us a perception of what the American Indians were like, what a puritan woman from 1682 was like, and what an African and what white men were like in the late 1700’s. Not only were we able to read interesting narratives, but we also learned a lot about the time period and the people in that time period. . . .