Education as a Tool

Brian Chan

History 17A

Section 1

Question A1

Education as a Tool

Slaves in the eighteenth century had faced many circumstances and many of them were treated with oppression. Despite the hardships that the slaves had gone through, there were slaves that had experienced rare opportunities like Olaudah Equiano. Through his book of narrative, slaves and uneducated slaves were treated differently. Educated slaves were more likely to survive through hardships during that time because of higher payments, better working condition, and the ability to question reality.

Only a numbered of African slaves received proper education while most of them are tortured to work. Equiano was a great example to illustrate the luck he had. He was kidnapped at a very young age and sent to other places as a slave. On one occasion, he was sent to Miss Guerins in London, where he learned about some basic techniques of education, “They often used to teach me to read, and took great pains to instruct me in the principles of religion and the knowledge of God” (Equiano, Interesting Narraitve, 85). It was not easy to teach an African slave but his teachers somehow managed to do so. Equiano was also capable of learning about God through the process of education. Later in his life, he encountered with Daniel Queen, whom Equiano learned about morals and the right behaviors from, such as not lying and created a good character which helped his career later on (96).

Slaves were treated differently according to their levels of education. Equiano was very useful to his master in many ways, such as dressing and shaving his master, which he learned earlier in his life. Hence, his master “acknowledge [Equiano], above a hundred pounds a year” which were more than the West Indies while they only received about sixty to a hundred pounds a year (106). The payments that the slaves got had already helped to distinguish the qualities of them. One has to be found useful and educated in...