Abstract
Olaudah Equiano’s 1789 slave narrative details his encounter as he moves from African freedom to Western chattel enslavement. An important episode of the work focuses on his Middle Passage experience crossing world oceans and those waterways’ role in the African Diaspora. This essay explores the transitional nature of Equiano’s narrative as it contributes to the current understanding of the enslavement experience, literary period understanding—Neoclassic and Romantic, and some foundational elements of Critical Race Theory. An evaluation of the selection shows how Equiano’s text functions as a conduit for re-engaging the past through a contemporary critical perspective that allows readers to connect to the true humanity that was intended to be destroyed in the holocaust of African slavery. Equiano’s work—which acts as one of the few first-hand narratives of the Middle Passage—continues to hold a unique place in both history and literature because of its very unique status as a testimony to man’s inhumanity to man and the indomitable spirit for life.
Presenters
Ordner TaylorAssociate Professor, Languages and Literatures, Delaware State University, Delaware, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2025 Special Focus—Oceanic Journeys: Multicultural Approaches in the Humanities
KEYWORDS
Slave narrative African Diaspora Middle Passage Critical Race Theory
