Olaudah Equiano Describes the Middle Passage

What is the author's main purpose in including including information about how the white men looked and spoke?

• to show how strange and frightening the situation was

• to compare their traditions with those of his own people

• to show the reader how interested he was in the white man

• to show how tired and exhausted the white men were

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.6

CCSS.RI.7.6

CCSS.RI.7.9

CCSS.RI.8.9

CCSS.RL.7.6

Which selection from the main article shows the author's point of view about the conditions on the slave ship?

• When I recovered, I found some black people about me, I asked them if we were to be eaten by those white men with horrible hooks, red faces and long hair.

• A little time later among the poor chained men, I found some people from my own country. I felt a little better.

• It made the slaves sick, and many of them died. The shrieks of the women an the groans of the dying were so awful that is was almost unbelievable.

• At last, we came in sight of the island of Barbados, and the ship soon anchored. Many merchants and planters now came on board, and they seemed very excited to see us.

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.7.1

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

The first thing that I saw when I arrived on the coast was a slave ship waiting for its cargo.

Based on the information in the introduction, what does the author mean by "cargo" in this context?

• boxes and packages

• payments for goods

• ropes and chains

• captured human beings

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.4

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

Read the sentence from the last paragraph of the article:

Must our feelings be sacrificed to their greediness?

What other sentence form the paragraph helps the reader understand the meaning of the phrase "sacrificed to their greediness"?

• It was very emotional to see and hear how they cried when they were seperated.

• Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends?

• We must work so that they can buy fancy goods and make money.

• Why must our dearest friends and relations be parted from each other so that they cannot even be comforted by being together?

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

What is the author's MAIN purpose in including the description of what he experienced in the merchant's yard?

• to explain the process of selling slaves

• to describe the beauty of Bridgetown

• to show the inhumanity of the situation

• to explain how he was separated from his family

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.9

CCSS.RI.7.6

CCSS.RI.7.9

CCSS.RI.8.9

CCSS.RL.7.6

Read the last sentence of the article:

Surely, this is a new type of cruelty that makes the suffering worse and adds new horrors even to the misery of slavery.

How does using the words "horrors" and "misery" affect the TONE of the sentence?

• It conveys a sense that the author had seen and experienced events like these many times before.

• It conveys a sense that this was the most terrible kind of slavery the author had ever imagined or experienced.

• It conveys the idea that the only part of slavery the author objected to was the separation of families.

• It conveys the idea that people became emotional and overwhelmed when they were separated from their loved ones.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4