Equiano Critique

Sensbach, J. (2006) Beyond Equiano. Historically Speaking. 7(3) Pg 12-13

Burnard, T. (2006) Goodbye, Equiano, The African. Historically Speaking. 7(3) Pg 10-11

Historical evidence is documented through the effective use of first hand recollection. Or that is what seems to be the case. In the autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life Olaudah Equiano, Equiano gives a vivid recount of his life as a young African enslaved boy as he is sold to the West Indies. Historical sources however, can be manipulated by the story teller in order to portray their point of view. This seems to be the case in the story of Equiano or ‘Gustavus Vassa’, where evidence has come to light through the research of Vincent Carretta. This evidence suggests that Equiano was not born in Africa, but was in fact born as a slave in South Carolina. This brings into question the whole integrity of the autobiography, as this new evidence suggests that Equiano has written about his childhood and the ordeal of the Middle Passage as just a recount of the stories heard from slaves that had made the perilous voyage from West Africa to the West Indies. As Equiano’s biography is the only primary source that recounts the Middle Passage, these new findings can be quite hard for historians to comprehend, as this suggests that if this new evidence is in fact correct, there is not one truly correct historical source that depicts such an import era in Western History.

In the source, Goodbye, Equiano, The African, Burnard suggests that Equiano cannot be used as the fundamental source of information for the recount of the time of slavery through the middle passage, unless the information brought to light about the possible origins of Equiano is quashed. This undoubtedly will not occur as there is no other source to support Equiano’s depiction of the Atlantic World. Burnard argues that if Equiano falsified any aspect of his autobiography, it puts the rest of the document under fire, and causes...