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The Eighteenth Century -- Slavery
This is an account, in novelised form,
of the life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa.
In 1787, under the chairmanship of Granville Sharp, a committee
was formed to abolish the slave trade. But every member of that
committee was a well meaning white man. Granville Sharp was convinced
that what was needed was someone who could describe the horrors
of slavery at first hand -- from personal experience. And Sharp
knew exactly who could do that. The former slave -- Olaudah Equiano
or Gustavus Vassa. Sharp persuaded Gustavus to write down his
own story, and The Interesting life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus
Vassa, the African, Written by himself, was the result. This
book earned Gustavus the title of the Father of Black Literature,
but it was far from being his only contribution to the fight against
slavery. Gustavus travelled thousands of miles and spoke at meetings
all over Britain -- subjecting himself to a punishing and exhausting
schedule which resulted in his premature death. This book tells
his story.
At the age of ten Olaudah is snatched from his African village,
endures the horrors of the voyage across the Atlantic in one of
the coffin ships, and is finally taken to a plantation in Virginia.
There he is found by a British naval officer who thinks that his
status will be enhanced by a black personal servant. So Olaudah
spends his teenage years working as a powder monkey and steward.
During this time he learns to read and write. He also embraces
Christianity and is baptised Gustavus Vassa -- the name which
the naval officer has given him.
Then his master, Michael Henry Pascal, sends him to Montserrat
-- the island of Chains and Stripes. But Pascal has not abandoned
him completely. He tells the captain of the ship which carries
Gustavus, to sell him to the best master in Montserrat. And so
Gustavus is sold to a Quaker merchant. As well as working for
his new master Gustavus is also allowed to do some trading on
his own account. His master agrees that he will give Gustavus
his freedom if he can raise the sum which he paid for him -- seventy
pounds local money. Gustavus starts his trading with a single
tumbler but eventually he does make seventy pounds -- and at the
age of twenty one is a free man again.
He goes back to London where he works as a hairdresser and personal
servant. He also learns to play the French horn. Then he becomes
restless and goes back to sea for a while -- even making a voyage
to the North Pole.
And so to the last chapter of his life and his work with Granville
Sharp. Here he makes good use of his talent for playing the French
horn. At meetings he entertains the audience by playing the horn
before giving his speech and reading from his book.
Throughout the book we are given details of the almost unbelievable
brutality practised on the slaves by their savage overseers. Slaves
having their heads imprisoned in iron muzzles, slaves being chained
down while boiling sealing wax is poured all over their backs,
slaves having bits of their ears cut off, slaves forced to lie
in a coffin-sized box with the lid shut -- and many more unspeakable
horrors.
Based on thorough research this book is a well-deserved tribute
to a remarkable man who worked, to the limits of his abilities,
to end a great evil.
Poignant, heart-rending and illuminating.
There is a bibliography at the back.
Olaudah Equiano is now included in the National Curriculum.
Laurie Sheehan worked for twenty-seven years for the BBC -- who
gave him leave of absence to write this book. He has also written
educational books for Anglia Young Books but this is something
of a new venture because here Laurie Sheehan is taking advantage
of new technology. The Slave Boy is being published by
Print-on-Demand. That is, the text is stored electronically and
books are printed off -- in a matter of minutes -- whenever they
are required. This means that books so published will not go out
of print. An excellent production method for a book like this
which, though scholarly and academic, is also specialised.
This particular book is of good quality, with perfect binding
and is very slightly larger than a trade paperback.
Teenage to adult
This novel explores the institution of
slavery -- in all its forms -- at the end of the eighteenth century.
The main character is Juliet Smethwick, the daughter of a Liverpool
merchant. Juliet is desperate to learn about trade so that she
can take her place in her father's business but instead she is
to be sent to a finishing school to learn the things she needs
to know to make a good marriage. Her twin brother Tony has absolutely
no interest in trade. All he wants to do is study and enter the
church but his father is going to send him on a voyage to learn
about ships and the Africa trade.
Juliet is in despair. Then her independent old grandmother has
an idea. Juliet should disguise herself as a boy and sail in her
brother's place. It is an outrageous plan but Juliet agrees and,
with her grandmother's help, she eventually finds herself aboard
the Kestrel and in charge of Captain Owens. The Kestrel sails
to East Africa and takes on a cargo of slaves and then sails to
the Caribbean. Captain Owens is a deeply religious man and his
slaves are treated better than they would be in many other ships.
Even so Juliet sees many things which horrify her. It is just
before the ship reaches East Africa that she begins to realise
what slavery is all about. Captain Owens tells her to go and look
in the crates marked "Slave Ironware" and familiarise
herself with them. She finds a crate marked "Speculium Oris"
and finds what looks like large, iron forks. A young sailor explains
that, if a slave will not eat, these implements are forced into
his mouth to hold it open while soup is poured down his throat.
Slaves can't be allowed to die and cheat their owners. The mouth
openers are not used on this voyage but just the sight of them
is enough for Juliet.
Juliet starts off by believing that slavery is justified. She
believes Captain Owens when he tells her slavery is necessary
for trade with the New World and without it many factory owners
in England would be ruined and the war with France would collapse
for lack of taxes. But gradually Juliet begins to have doubts.
When the slaves first come aboard Juliet has to force herself
not to look at their eyes where she would see the pitiful pleading,
the despair, the pain. By the end of the book she is convinced
that slavery is wrong and is determined to spend the rest of her
life trying to change things.
On board Juliet finds her life linked together with Gbodi, Hassan
and Dand and she learns much from them. Gbodi is a twelve-year-old
girl from a little African village which is raided by slave traders.
Gbodi is captured and eventually ends up on board the Kestrel.
Hassan is the fourteen-year-old son of a Muslim merchant from
Mali. Hassan goes, with his father, on a trading trip to buy and
sell slaves. But Hassan is betrayed and finds himself a slave.
Dand is brought in to show a more subtle form of slavery. He lives
on a small farm in Scotland. He drives his father's beasts to
the market in Aberdeen and, after he has sold them, he goes to
the fair. He allows a man to make him drunk and take him prisoner.
He is told that he is going to be sold as an indentured servant
in Jamaica. Dand is technicaly free but as an indentured servant
he might as well be a slave. Dand is brutally treated by Captain
Maxwell but manages to escape and is hauled aboard the Kestrel
by Juliet.
Chains shows the true horror of the "Middle Passage"
but it also tries to show the broader picture. The African side
of the slave trade is brought out clearly. The African raiders
of Gbodi's village: Hassan living in a household which includes
slaves (one of which was his own grandmother who came originally
from Cornwall): the King of Benin who makes large profits from
slaves.
And then there is the case of those who are technicallly free
-- like Dand but who might as well be slaves. And what about Juliet
herself? In order to do what she really wants to do she has to
pretend to be a man.
Slavery apart, this is a book which definitely emphasises the
dark side of the eighteenth century. In Africa, right at the start,
in Gbodi's village, we are shown a woman being whipped and her
twins being put to death. Far away in Aberdeen we see the drudgery
and deprivation of Dand's life on the farm and later we see something
of the plight of the Highlanders forced off their land at the
time of the Highland Clearances. And on the Kestrel Captain Owens
casually lets drop that, on the farm in Glamorgan, his mother
died of starvation when he was six. "Life is cruel and unfair
for whites as well as for blacks."
But despite this catalogue of hardship there is a satisfactory
ending for all the main characters who work out their own solutions.
Gbodi becomes reconciled to her life as a slave. Indeed she has
found out how to exact a terrible revenge on her masters.
For the rest the book ends on a note of hope. Hassan and Dand
are both looking forward to the future. And what about resourceful,
resilient Juliet? When she gets back to Liverpool there are going
to be surprises all round.
Comes with a historical note, a glossary and a bibliography. I
was very glad to see that the bibliography contains many original
sources.
This is a book which asks many questions.
Teenage to adult.
This book was first published in 1966.
This is the story of two eleven year old twins who are slaves on the Island of Haiti. They are separated. They try and find each other again and become involved in the slave revolution in Haiti at the end of the eighteenth century.
Marassa is sold as a page to a wealthy French marquis and taken over the seas to France. His master flees France because of the French Revolution and just abandons Marassa. Dangerously ill Marassa is rescued and nursed back to health by an exiled Scottish highlander. Marassa calls him by the name of his estate - Tir nan Og, which is very like the name of the Creole god. Marassa begs his protector to take him back to San Domingo, or Haiti as the Creoles call it, so that he can be reunited with his brother Midnight. Tir nan Og agrees. There is nothing for him in France now and he cannot go back to Scotland.
Meanwhile devastated by the loss of his twin Midnight keeps himself apart from the other slaves. Partly because of this he becomes involved in the plotting of the slave revolution.
There are two different parties involved here. There are the savage, cruel forces of the god Ogdoun. They will alert their followers by messages sent by drums. But when he hears the drums Midnight knows it is a trick. He knows there is a place in the hills where there is an echo. It is not magic, it is the echo which sends the sound of the drums over the whole island. And the Great One is not the god Ogdoun but a leader of the Maroons. (The Maroons are escaped slaves who have run off to the hills).
Opposed to this combination of bad Negroes and Maroons is the clever and kind old Papa Doctor. He says that hatred is poison. One night he visits Midnight. Papa Doctor sends secret messengers to keep in touch with Midnight. Their password is Feraille.
Then the rebellion begins with the Night of Flames. From a hiding place, Midnight sees the slaughter and butchery of the whites and realises that Papa Doctor is right. Midnight knows that the whites can be very cruel but he had not known that the Creoles can be cruel too.
When he works out that the Great One is a sham Midnight runs off into the mountains himself.
The next day Marassa and Tir nan Og arrive on the island and find that Midnight has run away. They set out to try and find him.
The theme of twins runs all through the book. Marassa and Midnight, the French Revolution and the revolution in Haiti, the twin mountains Dove and Diamond, and the two bloodhounds which befriend Midnight and which he names after the mountains.
This is an exciting account of the slave revolution in Haiti. The fact that it is told round the lives of two little slave boys ensures that the reader becomes actually involved. Personally I found that I cared deeply about Marassa and Midnight. The slave revolt in Haiti may well be something which young readers have not heard about before, but the way in which this book is written means that children will be able to read it without any feelings of alienation. Many children will no doubt identify with Marassa and Midnight.
The cruelty of slavery is clearly brought out but so is the horror of the revolt.
But throughout everything the wise old Papa Doctor stands out as the voice of tolerance and a figure of hope.
Well worth reading - by adults as well as children.
One point. I would have liked a historical note about the revolt - especially as the end result is not made clear.
10+
This is one of the Sparks series of short historical novels linking with the History National Curriculum Key Stage 2. It is a fictionalised account of a true incident which led to slavery being declared illegal in Britain.
Jonathan Strong was born a slave on Barbados. When he was eighteen he was sold to a London Lawyer, David Lisle, who wanted a black servant because they were fashionable.
One day he beats Jonathan so severely that he is badly hurt. Lisle then has him thrown out of the house and left in a quiet backstreet to die. But Jonathan does not die. He is found by Toby, a young apprentice who tells his master Mr Tomlinson who rescues Jonathan and cares for him. When Jonathan has recovered Mr Tomlinson finds him a position with a friend of his.
But Jonathan's troubles are not over. His original master, David Lisle, has him kidnapped and is going to have him shipped back to the West Indies. Lisle claims he is a runaway slave. But Jonathan gets a message to Mr Tomlinson who gets a writ from a magistrate and has him freed.
David Lisle then has Mr Tomlinson charged with stealing Jonathan from his rightful owner. The case is to be tried before Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice. At the trial Lord Mansfield tells the jury that the case is really about whether slavery is legal in Britain or not.
The jury find Mr Tomlinson not guilty of theft and say that Jonathan is a free man who should never have been kidnapped.
This little book throws light on an aspect of eighteenth centuryEngland which is all too often ignored. Comes with useful notes on: slavery, William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkston.
7+
Out of Print
In England, at the end of the eighteenth
century, the slave trade was still legal but slavery itself was
not. But just because a thing is illegal does not mean that it
does not exist. This book tells the story of Midnight, a slave,
and Jess who might as well have been a slave.
Midnight had been taken from his native Africa, endured the horrors
of the Middle Passage and been sold to a plantation owner in Jamaica.
On the death of his master he had been bought by the owner of
a slaver, Captain Meredith. When the story starts the Captain
brings Midnight back to England with him and makes him wear a
slave's collar. On being told that slavery is illegal in England
Meredith replies, "Where I go Meredith's law goes."
Jess is technically free but what does that really mean? She was
brought up in the workhouse and, when she was twelve, a tavern
keeper gave the overseer of the workhouse five pounds for her.
The money was officially apprentice money but in reality it was
not much different from Jess being sold. She is seventeen at the
beginning of the book. The tavern owner tries to sell her off
as a household drudge but she disguises herself as a boy and runs
away. She climbs aboard a ship and hides but is discovered by
the gambler Mr Lambert. Then Captain Meredith -- for it is his
ship -- appears on the scene and gives Lambert a shilling for
Jess. "The King's shilling." So Jess is effectively
sold again.
It is at this point that Jess and Midnight's paths cross. Meredith
has Jess shackled to Midnight and he takes them both ashore. Eventually
Jess is discovered to be a girl. The eccentric Miss Jarman takes
her into her household as a skivvy. Miss Jarman has her own reasons
for this. She belongs to the syndicate which had financed Captain
Meredith's voyages and she believes that Meredith is cheating
her and the other members. She is sure that Jess and Meredith
can help her to get the proof which will convict Meredith of fraud.
She sees her chance when Midnight escapes from Meredith after
a savage beating. Midnight makes his way to her house. She takes
him in and Jess nurses him back to health. But when Midnight refuses
to give her the information she requires she has no further use
for either of them.
Jess and Midnight manage all right on their own. Jess works in
an inn while Midnight tends the horses and makes money by prize
fighting. Now that Midnight has money he begins to think of returning
to Africa again. Will Jess have the courage to come with him?
Then Midnight is approached by the Quaker and abolitionist Thomas
Clarkson. Clarkson wants him to tell the truth about the slave
trade. Truth which would Meredith of fraud -- and something much
worse. Midnight realises that Clarkson is sincere but he still
hesitates. Does Midnight come to trust Clarkson and provide the
information which will ensure that the evil Meredith gets his
just deserts? Does Clarkson succeed where Miss Jarman failed?
This book throws light on a chapter of English history which many
would rather forget. The fact that, for a time, slavery did actually
exist in England. It also shows what a harsh place Bristol was
for the poor and friendless.
Humbling and thought provoking.
Young adult.
Story set in Bristol and Jamaica. Amy Smith, aged 14, lives with Gran, as Sissie, her mother, pursues a singing career. Amy has a black boyfriend, Bonny, and is herself dark-skinned. At school she works on a project Slavery and the Bristol Connection and is haunted by it. On mid-summer night she hears voices and finds herself being pursued by men and dogs.
She is captured and taken to the slave ship Kittiwake. It is now 1790 and she endures the Middle Passage. Bonny, Wereko, Bolo are on the Kittiwake. The slave cargo of 700 is reduced to 589 by sickness and slaves jumping overboard.
On arrival they are sold and Amy now called Ama (African name), and Wereko end up on the Blue Hill Plantation.
Amy works in sugar cane fields but is spotted by Fanny, daughter of owner, Master Price-Pinney, who wants her as a personal maid. Ama is now renamed Kitty. Kitty sees a bill on a tree saying Bonny has run away from his owner. Bonny turns up very emaciated. Ama is put up for sale because Blue Hill is not doing well. Ama, Bonny and Wereko all run away and are pursued by men and dogs.
Ama falls and finds herself in Queen Square, Bristol. A teacher finds her and persuades her to go home to Gran/Sissie. She is told that she is the child of an African student, Ezekiel Etim, who lived boarded with them in England. He suggested the name of Ama Aza and wanted her brought up in his family but Sissie had wanted to keep her.
That evening Amy meets Bonny on Bristol Bridge.
Follows Amy or Kitty (her slave name)
and boyfriend Bonny who gives her a medaillon he has found in
rubble. Threads of their slave life are still within them. The
medaillon was made by Bonny for Kitty when she had to leave him
long ago.
This is really a long short story. It was first published in 1975.
England in the middle of the eighteenth century.
Sarah lives in the country and she is told she is lucky when she is invited to spend three weeks with her aunt in Nottingham. But Sarah is miserable staying with her mean, snobbish, bullying aunt, Mrs Toplady. To make matters worse she has to spend time with George Rigby, the repulsive son of her aunt's best friend. But Sarah is soon to find that there is someone much worse off than herself.
One afternoon the Rigbys are visiting. Mrs Rigby asks what Mrs Toplady has brought back from London. Mrs Toplady looks triumphant and gives a mysterious smile.
"Something which is all the rage in town, these days, but I fancy I shall be the first in Nottingham."
Then she tells George to ring for the hot chocolate to be brought in. Sarah turns to get the cups and hears Mrs Rigby's gasp of admiration.
"My dear. A real, live black boy."
Mrs Toplady is the first lady in Nottingham to have a slave boy to wait on her. She has scored again.
As well as being proud of her slave boy Mrs Toplady is also very proud of her ice house. There are sandstone caves under many of the houses in Nottingham and Mrs Toplady has turned one of them into an ice house. One day Sarah is desperate to avoid George. She takes refuge in the ice house. She hears a mysterious drumming sound. At first she is frightened and then she finds it is Sam, the slave boy beating a little tub with his fingers. Music, and drumming in particular, mean a lot to Sam.
Sarah has been brought up to believe that slavery is wrong but she dare not express her views to her aunt. She would have liked to be friends with Sam but it is not possible.
Then there is the famous Goose Fair and a moment of drama when Sarah is nearly killed in a riot but saved by Sam.
Later Sam disappears and his clothes are found beside the river. It is assumed that he has drowned. Then Sarah's father comes to take her home and they discover what has really happened to Sam.
He has run away and has joined one of the showmen. Blissfully happy he can now play his beloved drums to his heart's content.
This little story contains much information about eighteenth Nottingham and also sheds light on slavery in England - a topic which is often ignored.
A little gem.
8-12