Monday 4th January 2021

LC- Comment on writers’ purpose and the overall effect of the text on the reader.

  This is the story of a man who became a slave as a child but eventually helped to put an end to slavery.

His name was Olaudah Equiano.

Slavery is when the law allows one person to own another, like a piece of property.

Slave owners can make that person do whatever they want. Slaves have NO human rights. They work under very harsh conditions and can be bought an sold.

 R - What is the definition of slavery?

 I - What type of man do you think Olaudah was? What makes you think this?Explain your answer.

 C - Why are the words 'human rights' in bold?

The history of slavery goes back thousands of years. It was part of life in ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire.

Later, in the 15th and 16th centuries, British, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Spanish traders explored the coast of Africa looking for people to sell as slaves. These people were then shipped to the colonies of America and the Caribbean to work as slave labour. It is estimated that up to 20 million people were taken as slaves from Africa to the Americas through the Middle Passage.

This is the journey slave ships took from West Africa across the Atlantic to America.

Olaudah Equiano was born around the year 1745 in the part of Africa that is now called Nigeria. He was the youngest son of a village elder. 

His family expected him to follow in his father's footsteps and become a chief.

However when Olaudah was only 11 years old, he and his sister were kidnapped from their village by slavers. The slavers ignored their cries for mercy. 

As Olaudah wrote in his autobiography many

years later ...

                 " the only comfort we had was being in one

                   another's arms all that night, and bathing each

                  other with our tears."

  What does this suggest about Olaudah's experience on his first night as a   slave? Answer this in your book in a standard expected from year 6.

Remember to comment on the effect this has on you as a reader.