The first two archival objects I located are bibles titled “Select Parts of the Holy Bible for the use of the Negro Slaves in the British West-India Islands”(1808) and Pro Slavery Bible (1839). The first was published in 1808, three years after the Haitian Revolution ended. Most of the Old Testament is missing, and only about half of the New Testament remains. It is believed that certain pieces were omitted so that enslaved Africans could not read or be read anything that might cause them to rise up and rebel against their oppressors. It starts off with the creation story, then it jumps to Joseph getting sold into slavery by his brothers and how that ends up being a good thing for him. This directly ties into the idea that many colonists had about slavery ; it being a good thing for everybody. The latter, I was not able to find as much background information but this particular bible looks like a somewhat amended ,more explicit version of the original that came out and was published in 1808. The first book used religion in a much more clever way so that it wasn’t so obvious to the slave reading it. The more recent version is saying in no. uncertain term obey me or die.
I found these objects to illuminate a great deal of the religious contractions in both Oroonoko (1688) and Equiano’s (1789) story. During the time in which both these works were written slavery was legal and often times religion was a key component used to morally justify the atrocities being committed. Behn (1688) uses her opportunity and platform as a female writer to underwrite her political views which are woven into the story through her use of detail. Unlike her male counterparts she feels “Religion would here but destroy that tranquility they possess by ignorance” (Behn 3). She uses her own point of view as the narrator and she also speaks down against the oppression of Christianity through colonialism and what it corrupts people. Through Oroonoko she says “such ill morals are only practiced in Christian countries, where they prefer the bare name of religion” (Behn 7). In both works you have two Africans of very different charates and ideals about how they wanted to and needed to exist in society. Equiano chose to assimilate and work his way up by learning how to be the best possible slave he could be, but none of that mattered. No matter how well they read, or what kingdom they came from, or how well they knew how to sail a boat, or how different slavery was in Africa, it was their skin in its entirety that made them Slaves.
The 2nd archival object is an image of some of the darker side of the Atlantic Slave Trade. The image shown is of a young African slave women being flogged to death by the ship’s Captain while in transport. The men involved were brought up on charges and found of no guilt. I chose this image because I pictured how differently Equiano & Oroonoko processed and dealt with what happening around them. One story I’m very familiar with and more comfortable with which is the story of a rebellion and someone who fought back until the end which was Oroonoko’s. Equiano took a different approach to being captive, although he went through all the stages one could possible go through when faced with that kind of devastation. His narrative was doing whatever he had to do in order to stay alive, and allowing himself to be smart and cunning rather than let anger and despair get the best of him. Looking at this picture put me in the mind frame of both men and why they might have made the choices they did. When Equiano was captured and put aboard the ship he witnessed horrors that no young boy should ever have to go through. A graphic use of realism where you can almost hear, feel, and smell what’s going on. He witnessed so much death and devastation around him that to stay alive he had to assimilate.
This image also brought forth the kind of world and mindset you had to create for yourself to think that any white person at that time could be your friend, or show your kindness. After witnessing the horrors Equiano saw there were times in the novel where you get the sense he has almost forgotten that he is a slave, and that is is equal among his other male counterparts. The author tried to play up in this harmonist relationship between slave and slave masters. This was something that was a contradiction in and of itself that we discussed in class. I have come to the conclusion that no matter how much I love and might care for something my conscience would not let me own another person. In Equianos story this is a theme that came up quite a bit, especially during his time working on ships. In his mind, he thought his masters saw him as indispensable, irreplaceable. At one point he he boldy says, at a time where you could be shot dead without cause “ and by the laws of the land no man has a right to sell me. And I added, that I had ,heard a lawyer and others at different times tell my master so” (Equiano 59). One wrong move whenever they got angry at him and you could be sold off. When he found himself back in slavery later on in the novel I know he thought back to those first experiences on that slave ship as a young boy. He had to come to a harsh reality that he ,like other Africans like him, were no more than property to be bought and sold at will. The amiable treatment that he received from his masters I don’t’ believe was for the slaves benefit but for their bottom lines. If your good to your slave they will work hard for you and you will in turn make more money. Oroonoko on the other hand illustrates something very different if I picture both men looking at the scene of this women hanging and being beaten. With his warrior lineage, Behn describes him as the ultimate martyr rand as someone who isn’t willing to fall In line. Although from what I can gather from both works the idea of death being better than slavery seems to be a common thread among many Africans , the way In which this was carried out was different.
Top of Form
Date: 1792
Document Type: Cartoon
Source: Library of Congress
Author: Isaac Cruikshank
Source archive: Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
GIlbert, and Law. Select Parts of the Holy Bible: for the Use of Negro Slaves, in the British West-India Islands. Nabu Press, 1807.
American Anti-Slavery Society. Pro-slavery Bible. New York, [1839?]. Slavery and Anti-Slavery. Gale. CUNY – Lehman College Library. 16 Mar. 2020
