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LESSON
STUDY
OLAUDAH EQUIANO AUTOBIOGRAPHY
I.
OVERVIEW:
At the completion
of the combined lessons on Equiano
our group expected the students
to be able to answer two questions:
1) What does Equiano’s
writings tell about the experience
of Africans as part o the Triangle
of Trade?; and 2) Why is Equiano
included in the study of American
history?
The lesson presented
here concerns the triangle of
trade or “cycle of trade,”
a more accurate description
of the multiple trade routes.
It is designed to provide the
context necessary for future
in depth reading and comprehension
of Olaudah Equiano’s “journey”
to America, which is featured
in the same chapter used for
this lesson. We hoped that in
learning the processes involved
in the “Middle Passage”
and the cycle of trade, of the
commodities exchanged and the
various participating countries
and colonies, the students would
be more equipped to place Equiano
and his life experiences within
a historical timeframe and understand
him as a historical agent, as
a human being who has been transferred
and purchased for profit (and
whose enslaved labor produces
more profit).
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