Olaudah Equiano, also known as Gustavas Vassa, was born in Guinea, Africa in 1745. His birth-name was Essaka and he was the son of an Ibo chieftain. Equiano was the youngest son of seven kids, six boys and one girl. As a child he enjoyed spending time with his ... witnessed brutal cruelty not only shown towards blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves. As it was for all slaves, the Middle Passage for Equiano was a long, arduous nightmare. In his autobiography he describes the inconceivable conditions of the slaves' hold: the "shrieks of the women," the "groans ... were seemingly a...

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