Document 3.1 VENTURE SMITH, A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa (1798)
Document 3.2 THOMAS PHILLIPS, Voyage of the Hannibal (1694)
Document 3.3 WILLEM BOSMAN, A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (1703)
Document 3.4 OLAUDAH EQUIANO, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)
INTERPRET THE EVIDENCE
What circumstances led to Venture Smith’s capture and sale into slavery (Document 3.1)? Who captured and sold him? What does his story reveal about political and military conflict among Africans?
With whom did Thomas Phillips have to negotiate to purchase slaves (Document 3.2)? How did he also have to negotiate African political and cultural norms? How does he characterize the slaves he observed?
According to Willem Bosman, what happened to slaves in the immediate aftermath of their purchase (Document 3.3)? How did the Dutch analyze and treat their slaves? Why was the branding significant?
How did Olaudah Equiano describe his voyage on a slave ship (Document 3.4)? How were the slaves treated? How did they try to resist this treatment?
Does the fact that Equiano’s narrative may not reflect his actual experience change its value as a historical document? If he did not make the voyage himself, how do you think he described it in such detail? How does this controversy reflect larger issues in studying early American history?
PUT IT IN CONTEXT
How did participation in the slave trade shape the history and culture of the British and the Dutch colonies in North America? How might the slave trade have contributed to the development of an African American culture out of the many different groups of Africans brought to the Americas?
Thinking through Sources forExploring American Histories, Volume 1Printed Page 19