A Dichotomous Identity in The Narrative of Olaudah Equiano

In his autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, identity was one of the author’s central themes. Intentionally or unintentionally, the author portrayed his identity as dualistic and dichotomous. This dichotomy was especially pronounced in the use of his two names and in the descriptions of Africa and England, his two homelands. Both of these examples exuded subtle clues that suggest the author’s identity as an English Christian. Vassa clarified his identity through the comparative descriptions of his native African religion and his then-current Christian religion.

            The first dichotomy Equiano portrayed in his narrative was the use of his names. The title of his book included both names by which he was known during his life. The first name listed was Olaudah Equiano, his African name. The second name he listed was Gustavus Vassa, the name he was given by his owner en route to England for the first time. This order implied the name by which he preferred his narrative to be known. Equiano chose to add the phrase “the African” to the title in an attempt to maintain a connection to his land of origin. The name Olaudah represented the folk spirit of Africa, and as an African, Equiano’s story portrayed a stronger ethos to readers.[1]

            Though the author chose to state his African name Olaudah before his given name Gustavus, he almost exclusively used the name Gustavus throughout his life. When aboard a ship to England, the author told his master that he wanted to be known as Jacob. His master refused and gave him the name Gustavus Vassa.[2] The author used the name Gustavus as he moved from owner to owner, and later after he bought his freedom and traveled as a free sailor. Likewise, when he was baptized and later became a missionary to Africa, he continued to use the name Gustavus.[3] The author would have had more clout connected to the name Gustavus than Olaudah among the white community. He may not have been able to make some of his necessary relationships or business transactions with an African folk-name like Olaudah. This tension represented the author’s inner struggle to define himself, both as an African and an Englishman without completely giving up either.

            The second dichotomy Equiano portrayed in his narrative was his sense of home. In the first chapter of his book, Equiano described in detail the society in which he grew up. Equiano portrayed his African society—many miles inland from the Bight of Benin—as very considerate and moral. They established families, made official through a ritualistic marriage ceremony. They exchanged manufactured goods and participated in commerce; they fought wars, and took slaves of their own.[4] Later in his life Equiano returned to Africa, the land of his birth, as a missionary to try and convert his brethren to Christianity. This excursion highlighted the duality of his view of home.[5]

            England became Vassa’s new homeland. He sailed to England fairly soon after his trip across the dreadful middle passage. In England he felt the strongest connections to other people since his sister was taken away from him in Africa. He was able to make friends and learn about Christianity. He was baptized and eventually learned to read, allowing him to delve deeper into the religion.[6] When Vassa was forced to sail to the Mediterranean he deeply wanted to return to his new home in England. Later, when his master betrayed him and sold him to the West Indies, his greatest desire was to return to his beloved England.[7] After Vassa obtained his freedom he returned to England again and again, working as a free sailor and earning his wages.[8] This series of events suggests that Vassa had an emotional connection to England. Despite his very positive descriptions of Africa and his trip as a missionary, Vassa’s heart always remained in England. It was this trip as a missionary that highlighted the last dualistic portrayal of the author’s identity.

            The third dualism Equiano portrayed was his religious identity. This side of his identity was different than the previous two in that his religious identity more notably changed over time. This aspect of his identity was also much easier to define. In the first chapter of his book, Equiano described the religious beliefs and practices from his homeland in Africa. His society had a ritualistic marriage tradition, after which the woman became the sole property of the man.[9] They believed in one Creator of all things, who lived in the Sun and controlled all the events of their lives. Equiano recalled no concept of eternity, but rather a form of transmigration of souls. Some souls were transmigrated to other people or objects, and the souls that did not would attend their families forever. These souls were central to religious rituals practiced there.[10]

            Vassa seemed to have completely renounced the religious aspect of his African identity after he learned of Christianity. In February 1759 Vassa was baptized and began his life as a Christian. He knew enough about the religion that he thought he would go to hell if he was not baptized, a fact that his mistress stressed repeatedly.[11] From this time forward Vassa constantly looked toward this religion in times of peril or heartbreak. When his master sold him to the West Indies he argued that his master had no right to do so, for he was a Christian.[12] Vassa spent an entire chapter describing his full conversion to the faith. He was distressed and began to pray to God for redemption. As a result he claimed to have marvelous visions while he slept which left him “resolved to win heaven, if possible.” He “kept eight out of ten commandments,” but that just was not enough.[13] He continued to work, and began bringing others into the fold. It was then that Vassa went on a mission to Africa. This event was an expression of one of the most telling points of his religious identity. He chose to leave his land of England, to which he had become most accustomed, in an attempt to convert the poor Africans who knew not of Christ. This suggested a complete renunciation of his old beliefs, and showed that he felt it would be best for all Africans to do the same. Gustavus Vassa was a Christian.

            Despite the author’s dichotomous descriptions of his own identity, subtle evidence indicated his identity as an English Christian. His identity changed over time, away from his folk-customs, society, and religion of Africa and toward his Christian, sailor, gentlemanly customs of England. He placed his African name first, yet used his given slave-name most of his life. He described the civilized culture of his Africa, yet embraced the civilized culture of England. Most of all, He renounced his spiritualistic religion of Africa for Protestant Christianity. The author exemplified his dualistic identity in his closing remarks to the Queen, “I am, your Majesty’s most dutiful and devoted Servant to command, GUSTAVUS VASSA, The Oppressed Ethiopian.”[14]

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[1] Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, 1814, in The Classic Slave Narratives, ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., (Penguin: NY, 2002) 15.

[2] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 66.

[3] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 81, 229, 230.

[4] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 29-39.

[5] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 228.

[6] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 67, 81.

[7] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 88, 98.

[8] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 166-183.

[9] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 32.

[10] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 39-40.

[11] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 81.

[12] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 97-98.

[13] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 191-192.

[14] Equiano, Interesting Narrative, 247.

Plantations and Degradation: Slave Societies in North America, Berlin Part II

In Part I of his book Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America, Ira Berlin discussed the ways Atlantic Creoles, highly cultured peoples of mixed race, shaped the first generation of African slaves in mainland North America. Part II moved forward chronologically and focused on the Creoles’ successors: the plantation generation. Berlin argued that the plantation institution spread and led to the degradation of black life in North America. Berlin’s argument focused on the transition from what he termed societies with slaves into slave societies. He claimed that this transition differed according to individual situations, and was perhaps most pronounced in the Chesapeake region and the Lowcountry of South Carolina, followed by a unique transition in the North. The Lower Mississippi Valley, according to Berlin, moved in the opposite direction from the other regions: from a slave society back to a society with slaves. The various forms this transition embodied, in connection with individual situations, were comparable to the various effects of the Glorious Revolution on the different colonies.

            Atlantic Creoles permeated societies with slaves, which Berlin defined as societies that utilize slavery but are not economically and socially dependent upon it as an institution. Creoles were able to use their social and cultural experience to better their situation, some to the point of freedom. Their successors were not so lucky. The next generation worked harder and died earlier. Family life was nearly non-existent and they were unable to connect to or understand Christianity, the dominant religion of the white society they found themselves in. The new generation had little opportunity for their own economic interests, a privilege common to their Creole predecessors. All of these indicators of social degradation were reflected in the names they were given by their Planter or Master.[1]

            Planters transformed the society with slaves into a slave society. Slave societies, according to Berlin, are societies that rely heavily upon slavery for the stability of its economic and social structures. These Planters defined race by social status to a greater extent than had ever been done before. They changed the landscape, social classes and relationships, and centers of financial stability. At first, the Planters did not care much about who they enslaved. It was only as Europeans moved Native American tribes farther and farther inland that slavery began to focus solely on Africans. Soon the term “Negro” became synonymous with “slave.” What set apart plantations was its peculiar social order. Nearly one-hundred percent of the gains went to the Planter and nothing went to the slaves. Masters ran their plantations according to the “art of domination.” Slaves had to be in awe of their “metaphorical father,” who incited that awe with systematic and relentless force.[2]

            The Tobacco Revolution brought about the transition into a slave society in the Chesapeake region of Virginia and Maryland. Following Nathaniel Bacon’s rebellion, Planters consolidated their control throughout the region. They instigated slave codes that made slave status hereditary and restricted slaves’ freedoms and prerogatives. The codes created a “mudsill,” which refers to a hypothetical barrier placing any white person above any black person in any and every situation. There was little room for ambition, and the once-vital slave economy withered. Planters imported high numbers of male slaves and stripped them of their identity, constantly increasing the “apparatus of coercion” to demoralize the workers. Slaves who worked in Chesapeake plantations experienced harder work regimens, more days, longer hours, and closer supervision than their Creole Predecessors.[3]

            The Rice Revolution in the lowlands of South Carolina and Georgia was only a small step behind the Tobacco Revolution of the Chesapeake. Similar to the situation in Chesapeake plantations, a rapid increase in demand for rice and indigo led to increased importation of slaves from the Inland of Africa. Increased importation led to massive degradation, both of which far surpassed that of the Chesapeake. The slave society overtook the society with slaves. The lowlands had a black majority: roughly two-to-one in most areas and as high as three-to-one in others. Slaves lived in large units and worked the brutal and tedious cycle of rice and indigo production. Much like their counterparts in the Chesapeake, slaves in the lowlands lost their identities on the plantation.[4] Unlike the North, Chesapeake, and the Lower Mississippi Valley regions, Africanization in the lowlands—the combination of African cultures into the established culture of the plantation—was not a short generation, but lasted a full century.[5]

            The North, according to Berlin, did not experience a plantation revolution akin to those of the Chesapeake and the lowlands. The North transformed rather slowly and unevenly. The transition was much less complete than in the South, and it took place mostly in the urban centers of the Middle Colonies. The number of indentured servants arriving from Europe decreased, thus increasing the importance of the slave labor force.[6] Both the urban elite and the middling sorts held slaves in the North. Slaves transitioned from household tasks artisanry. This important transformation changed the face of slavery in the North. Similar to their southern counterparts, northern slaves became indispensable to the economy. Slave families were unlikely, as mortality rates rose sharply and fertility dropped significantly. Berlin noted that though it was not quite a slave society, it was no longer merely a society with slaves either, leaving the North in a very unique position.[7]

            Berlin claimed that the plantation revolution barely affected the Lower Mississippi Valley. The Louisiana colony already attempted to establish a plantation regime that was at this point coming unraveled. Importation of slaves stopped and the colony devolved from a slave society to a society with slaves. As the plantation economy failed, the slave economy flourished. Slaves inched up the social ladder. Planters knew they needed indigenous population growth for the economy to survive, and the harsh regime mellowed. Slaves built connections through economic and social pursuits that would make life easier at the moment, and their own in the future. Plantation slaves reverted back to the Creole traditions of the charter generation.[8]

            The various ways in which the plantation revolution affected the colonies according to individual circumstances were comparable to the colonies’ various reactions to the news of the Glorious Revolution in Britain. After Prince William of Orange took the throne from the Catholic King James II, British colonies in America each reacted differently. In Maryland Catholics had been supported, though they were a minority. The majority protested, and the colony became a Royal Colony with the Anglican Church as the established religion. In Massachusetts, a mob imprisoned King James’ royal governor along with twenty-five other men and re-established its old form of representative government, though their beloved “Holy Experiment” was over. In New York, after hearing the news of the Dutch Prince William coming to the throne, a Dutchman organized a militia and took over the government. He clamped down very hard on the people before making a very poor decision to attack another colony. The Dutchman was tried and executed by a royal representative. Each of these reactions to the news of revolution was very different because of the social, political, and religious differences among them.[9]

            The colonies’ transitions to slave societies and their reactions to the Glorious Revolution took different forms from one another, largely due to social, economic, and religious variation among and within them. The plantation generation made a major impact on the Chesapeake region and Lowlands of South Carolina, while only affecting the slave society of the North indirectly. Slave societies in the Lower Mississippi Valley devolved in the exact opposite direction from the Chesapeake and the Lowlands. Berlin argued that the common thread throughout each region was the general degradation of slave life that accompanied the transition from a society with slaves to a slave society.  Though the Creole societies faded behind the plantation, they would not be forgotten. The tools used by the charter generations would again be employed as slave societies transformed into free societies.

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[1] Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America, (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1998), 95-96.

[2] Berlin, 96-98.

[3] Berlin, 109-117.

[4] Berlin, 142-152.

[5] Berlin, 171.

[6] Berlin, 177-178.

[7] Berlin, 179-187.

[8] Berlin, 195-207.

[9] Class discussion, 11/7/11.

Atlantic Creoles and Charter Generations: Berlin Part I

African slavery played a significant role in the history of North America throughout the period of European colonization. In his book Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America, Ira Berlin documented and analyzed the development and change of slavery in that continent during that period. Part I of the book argued that African Creoles, highly cultured peoples of mixed race, shaped the first generation of African slaves in mainland North America, through cultivation and use of relationships. He claimed that this was perhaps most pronounced in the Chesapeake region and colonies in the North, while least pronounced in the Deep South and the Lower Mississippi Valley. The Creoles’ ability to use relationships for profit is paralleled by that of Native Americans in the North.

Berlin introduced his analysis of societies with slaves with a description of Atlantic Creoles. Creoles were central characters in these charter generations. Though they had genealogical ties to Africa, Europe, and the Americas they were not strictly from any one of these places. They began as mediators between African and European slave traders on the west coast of Africa. Their business was trade. As the importance of the slave trade and the needs of the Europeans expanded, Creoles found themselves in a volatile position great for bargaining, but lacking a solid identity. Their lack of identity allowed slave traders to use them as scapegoats, and, in some cases enslave them. Slave traders and owners saw Creoles as dangerous because of their proficiency in cultures and languages. For this reason few ended up on plantations in the West Indies, but were taken to marginal slave societies on mainland North America.[1]

Olaudah Equiano, famous example of an Atlantic Creole

            Berlin argued that Creoles shaped the charter generation of slaves in the Chesapeake region. Blacks and whites often worked side by side on tobacco plantations in Virginia and Maryland. At this point no law defined the boundaries of slavery. Many planters allowed or required self-subsistence for their slaves. As a result, slaves often had better food and a better lifestyle. Masters kept a cautious eye while slaves developed their own economic interests, including planting crops and raising cattle and pigs. Slaves would be allowed to make money off their own work and, most importantly, develop social networks. These networks provided an avenue for social mobility, and Creoles used them with proficiency. As long as the line between black and white, free and slave remained blurred, black slavery would only be one labor system among many. Creoles were well acquainted with ethnically diverse economies, and Virginia had exactly that. These individuals climbed the social ladder, many gaining freedom and owning plantations and slaves themselves.[2]

            In the North, slaves were few in number and only marginal to the success of the economy. The slaves that ended up in the North were often unsalable, or “refuse,” which referred to their being unsuited for heavy labor on a plantation.[3] Northerners preferred that their slaves came from the West Indies because of their extensive experience with a wide variety of cultures. For the most part, slaves came to the North individually or in small groups. New Amsterdam and its focus on trade was a haven for Creole slaves. Similar to their Chesapeake counterparts, Northern Creoles developed relationships that would help them improve their station. Rural slaves became jacks-of all trades, while urban slaves worked the wharves and socialized with their white co-workers.[4]

            Charter generations of slaves in the Deep South varied widely due to economic and governmental differences. In South Carolina, rice production led to rapid growth toward a plantation system, and thus the charter generation was quite short. Plantations employed a diverse work force, including Natives, Africans, and Europeans. Slaves set their own work standards, and were required to provision themselves. Masters often provided slaves with a day during the week completely to themselves. Though some laws established strict boundaries between slave and master, these laws were rarely followed or enforced. Florida, a colony claimed as a part of New Spain, proclaimed freedom for all black individuals within their boundaries and refuge for any slaves fleeing the woes of bondage elsewhere. Many runaway slaves from South Carolina made it to Florida and joined the militia, fighting directly against their former masters. Throughout the Deep South, the societies and cultures of Europeans and Africans paralleled and overlapped one another during their first years.[5]

            The charter generation in the Lower Mississippi Valley moved precisely backward from the other charter generations Berlin covered up to this point. It began as a slave society and developed into a society with slaves. Most of the slaves brought into the region were from the interior of Africa. Early efforts to establish a staple-producing colony utterly failed. European colonists, African Creoles, and Native Americans lived together and relied upon one another. Greedy European planters demanded that the French government send them a new workforce or they would desert the colony altogether. France sent roughly six-thousand African slaves to the region in response. Plantations were established, life expectancy was very short, and Creoles did not fit in. Many Creoles fled, taking refuge with the Natives. “Retreat—geographic, social, and physical—slowly liquidated the charter generations.”[6]

             The charter generations of African slaves in North America, as outlined by Berlin, were similar to early civilizations of Native Americans. According to Dr. Kyle Bulthuis, everything for early Native Americans was a relationship; relationships needed to be established whenever new peoples arrived.[7] Native Americans often used trade, like the Creoles, to establish relationships with other tribes and European colonies. This pattern was especially true in the region surrounding New Netherlands and New England. Before Europeans settled in the area, there were multiple tribes speaking similar languages. As they communicated with one another, they realized the economic and social benefits of forming connections. They established a strong bond, and eventually became known as the Five Nations Iroquois. These relationships provided these peoples with power—physically, economically, and culturally.[8] Similarly, some of the Creoles who began their lives in North America as slaves established and nurtured relationships that would provide them with power derived from freedom and land ownership.

             Relationships became a powerful tool for both groups of peoples, who were in fact viewed by the dominant society as savages. Those groups and individuals, seen as uncultured and unintelligent, made some of the most pronounced uses of cultural and linguistic proficiency in colonial history. Previous trade experience with a variety of cultural groups provided these peoples with powerful tools they could, and did, use for social growth. Berlin argued in Part I of his book that Creole relationships, and their ability to foster them, characterized the first generation of black peoples in North America. Evidence suggests that Native peoples used similar tactics to gain political and economic favor in certain situations. The social dynamic of each of the regions Berlin analyzed, specifically the Chesapeake, the North, the Deep South, and the Lower Mississippi Valley, was greatly influenced by the Creoles’ ability to conform to and use the society and culture to their advantage.

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[1] Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America, (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1998), 17-27.

[2] Berlin, 29-45.

[3] Berlin, 47.

[4] Berlin, 47-62.

[5] Berlin, 64-76.

[6] Berlin, 77-92.

[7] Kyle Bulthuis, HIST 3720, 7 Sept. 2011.

[8] Kyle Bulthuis, HIST 3720, 23 Sept. 2011.