While Equiano describes the practice of slavery as common among his own people, he contrasts slavery within Africa to the brutal racial hierarchy established by white Europeans.Įquiano recounts being kidnapped along with his sister by slave traders at the age of eleven. This argument allows Equiano to begin to assert the full humanity of slaves and of black people in general, who only seem inferior to Europeans because they are cruelly subjugated by white people. The customs are very different from those of England, but he also makes the case for their similarity to traditions of the Jews, even suggesting that Jews and Africans share a common heritage. Olaudah Equiano begins his narrative by describing the customs of his native land in modern-day Nigeria.
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