Trans Atlantic Slave Trade Research Paper

Words: 1076
Pages: 5

Since the beginning of American history, owning slaves has cast a dark shadow on our country. The shadow has since evaporated, but that is not due to anything we have done in current times, but rather the courage of those of the past. Among the works of many American authors, the literary works of Oladuah Equiano, Fredrick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Walt Whitman assisted in revolutionizing a path to freedom for enslaved people in America. The start of slavery in America came from the events of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Starting in the early 1500s, the Trans-American Slave Trade held the transportation of African people who were now enslaved, and trading them in the form of Triangle Trade. During this period, slaves would spend the …show more content…
During the event of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, a new author would make his rise and forever leave his fingerprint on the road to redemption for slaves. Olaudah Equiano, a slave during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, wrote the first-ever slave narrative. In 1789, Equiano wrote, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. During this period, slaves were not literate and could not express their ideas on paper. However, this unique situation sparked the beginning of a new way of writing for slaves. Equiano writes in his narrative, "I believe it is difficult for those who publish their memoirs to escape the imputation of vanity; nor is this the only disadvantage under which they labor: it is also their misfortune, that what is uncommon is rarely, if ever believed, and what is obvious we are apt to turn from with disgust, and to change the writer with impertinence" (Equiano, 1789, pg. 340 Norton. Later on, in the year 1845, Frederick Douglass wrote his narrative titled, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave. This narrative took a more aggressive stance against …show more content…
The South succeeded the United States, becoming the Confederate States of America on December 20th, 1860 (citation). The embarkment of tensions eventually would lead to the Civil War, in which the South and North would square off. During this period of tensions rising, a very important narrative would be released in the year 1861. Harriet Jacobs would go on to write and publish the narrative titled, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. This narrative is crucial because it details the horrific life of a slave from a female’s perspective. Jacobs writes in her narrative, “” To briefly run through the Civil War, which began on April 9th of 1861, at Fort Sumter. This would be the first battle of the Civil War and was a pretty deadly one, which sparked an uprising in battles between the South and North (citation). Two years into the war, the battle at Gettysburg would take place. It was the deadliest battle of the entire war. The 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln made the infamous Gettysburg Address on April 19th, 1863 in Gettysburg,