Essay Assignment for Document Project 20: Olaudah Equiano: African Voices in the Antislavery Movement

Now that you’ve had a chance to explore the evidence, write a short essay (four to five paragraphs) on the following topic:

What do the accounts of Equiano, Cugoano, and Prince tell us about the attitudes and beliefs of the eighteenth-century reading public? What strategies did these authors employ in their efforts to convince readers that the suffering of enslaved Africans was an evil that had to be stopped?

You may find it helpful to review the section “The African Slave Trade” in Chapter 20 of your textbook before you begin.