Equiano Team
All aspects of the Equiano team’s project were very impressive. Their use of StoryMapJS was amazing as it was perfect for a text that moves around so many different geographic locations. One specific thing that stood out to me was the section about the middle passage and the spaces on the ships. Of course I have always learned that the conditions of an enslaved person on a ship traveling overseas was terrible. However, after seeing the diagram and then being told that there is even less space that the diagram represented, I was really shocked. I imagined living for months with only a couple of feet to call my own. Very little light, no fresh air, bodies on top of bodies, and certainly nothing good awaiting me once the journey was over. That really stuck out to me and gave me more perspective on Equiano’s journey and his writing about it. Equiano does say that the trip is terrible, but he does not use the descriptive and emotional language that one would expect when writing about living through some of the worst conditions humanly possible. This brings me to the purpose of his writing and his general leaning towards facts and information rather than emotional appeal.
Hi Griffen, I also thought that the Middle Passage was an extremely interesting part of the project. While I was a part of the research team I focused more on the abolition movement in London, so when I read John's research on the middle passage it shocked me. The conditions they were surviving in seem unbearable and unlivable. I am surprised that slaves even made it to America alive after going through such a torturous environment. I also am surprised Equiano did not try to describe the passage deeper and more emotionally like you said. I would think that would be great evidence targeting someone's sympathy, but like the rest of the novel, Equiano continues to be less emotional in his storytelling than what you would expect.
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