Monday, February 23, 2009
Essay 4
“The eighteenth century, especially the period from the 1760’s to the 1790s, marked the first time that the status and place of Black people in English society became a question of extensive public debate and national concern” (Lorimer 58). This era marks a significant start to the fight of abolition. More and more slaves were fleeing from their masters to become free. To many African Americans, the term “freedom” was becoming more and more clear. Angered and shocked slave-owners were outraged that Black people were resisting slavery, even appalled at the fact that freed slaves were “stealing” jobs from English workers. Those opposed to the abolition movement even offered rewards for the return of their slaves in newspapers, describing them as property. Africans such as Olaudah Equiano, were fortunate to encounter a different breed of white people. Equiano was a slave, yet his owner treated him well. In fact, he seemed to treat all his slaves like employees, not animals. He fed them well, and in turn, the slaves provided a better service to him. If one of his slaves rebelled or acted out, the punishment was abandonment. He never beat or mistreated them for going against him, simply told them to leave and fend for themselves. “This made them afraid of disobliging him; and as he treated his slaves better than any other man on the island, so he was better and more faithfully served by them in return” (Equiano, 90). A slave-owner is still a slave-owner, but in my opinion, Equiano’s master really was looking out for his slaves the best way he knew how. There were many others that felt this way, some that even took it a step farther. Granville Sharp, for example, offered legal help to abused slaves fleeing from their masters. In short, this concept of freedom during the late eighteenth century ignited several relationships between Africans and Europeans. This era started many white Europeans to take a stand against slavery, which in turn set Europeans against each other in the fight for abolition. Those Europeans that resisted abolition fought as hard as they could to regain control of their slaves in the battle that they inevitably lost.
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I enjoyed reading your essay, particularly the point you made about the reaction that slave owners had to the idea that their slaves would try to rebel against the institution that they were forced into. I too found the assessment of Equiano's master to be less harsh than many during this time period, but the fact that he was still a slave owner is not escapable. While he may of treated them well and had some of his slaves' loyalty as a result, he still owned their liberty, which is an important point to make. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI do not disagree with you when you noted how the late eighteenth century marked the rise of the abolitionist movement or in your assessment of Equiano’s owner. However, I never felt that you answered the question: what did freedom mean to Africans living in Europe in the 1700s. Thanks to the input from other classmates, I would contend that it encapsulated the desire to become subjects of the monarch, who would offer them the protection of his/her laws, the right to participate in the economy (i.e. the right to a livelihood), and to be recognized as the Europeans many or most Africans living in Europe thought they were or had become. Additionally, in my own posting I focused on the idea of freedom as the means to spiritual salvation. Those Africans living in Europe had accepted one form of Christianity or another, be it Catholicism (especially if one lived in France), Anglicanism, or any of the evangelical denominations that sprouted during the time period.
ReplyDeleteEquiano, in my opinion, believed that freedom enabled him, and other slaves and former slaves, to enter a relationship with Christ. The majority of Britain’s slaves living in the West Indies had not been exposed to the Bible, and were thus consigned to eternal damnation. Equiano regarded “the unconverted people” as people without hope (p. 199). If the slaves were freed, they could come to know Christ and save their souls. At the same time, Equiano believed that freedom would also free the souls of the slavers. Only by granting slaves their freedom could Christian Europe hope to save itself by acknowledging its sins against the African people and atone for those sins. Freedom for the slaves would help to purify European Christendom, to put it back on track. After all, Christians had used the Bible and their religion to justify enslaving Africans and to subject them to every conceivable form of depravation. “Good” Christians had done nothing to stop the abuses of the slave trade or slavery, at least prior to the period under consideration. They needed to be redeemed just as much as the slave did, at least in the mind of Equiano and other Christianized Africans.