Slavery, Passage, Freedom, And The Sea By Janelle Collins

According to Janelle Collins article titled, Passgae to Slavery, Passage to Freedom: Olaudah and the Sea â€Å"The slave narrative genre is generally recognized as a text that persuasively uses autobiography to argue against the inhumanity and injustice of the institution of slavery.† This explanation begs the question of what is a slave. Slaves were very common in early American history. Slavery is not something Americans celebrate though. It caused a lot of problems and even set war between brothers. People have for a long time struggled with the thought of why and how people were able to own other people and discern differences which made one better than the other. Slaves were not just any kind of people; slaves were men, women, and children who were not English or white by nature. Slaves were made of a large population of black Africans who were forced to come to America to work for other people. How did slaves come to America? To answer that question one would need to tak e a look into an autobiography titled, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. As described by Olaudah and proved by other evidence, the journey through the Middle Passage was one that forced, it was horrendously dirty, and only the beginning to life as a slave. First, imagine what it would be like for you to go to the park with your siblings. While you are there having fun, some strange people show up. These strange people begin to eye and look at you like you are a piece of meat being