Readings: "..the robbers of men,...who take away...privileges of others to...enrich themselves, are....detestable wretches;"
“Of the four major writers of African descent—Ignatius Sancho, John Marrant, Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, and Olaudah Equiano—whose works were first published in London during the 1780s, Cugano remains the most candid and the least familiar. His known writings consist of several letters printed in London newspapers, a few manuscript letters, and two published books.”
Passages from “Thoughts And Sentiments On The Evil Of Slavery” by Quobna Ottobah Cugoano
“Perhaps the Greeks and Romans, and other crowds of barbarous nations have done so before; they can make that a precedent, and think no harm in it, they would still do the same, and worst than any barbarous nations ever did before; and if they look backwards and forwards they can find no better precedent, ancient or modern, than that which is wicked, mean, brutish, and base. To practice such abominable parallels of wickedness of ensnaring, negociating (sic), and enslaving men, is scandal and shame of mankind; And what must we think of these crimes? Let the groans and cries of the murdered, and the cruel slavery of the African tell.”
“No necessity or situation of men, however poor, pitiful and wretched they may be, can warrant them to rob others, or oblige them to become thieves, because they are poor, miserable and wretched: But the robbers of men, the kidnappers, ensnarers and slave-holders, who take away the common rights and privileges of others to support and enrich themselves, are universally those pitiful and detestable wretches; for the ensnarings(sic) of others, and taking away their liberty by slavery and oppression, is the worst kind of robbery,…”
“I was early snatched away from my native country, with about eighteen or twenty boys and girls, as we were playing in a field. We lived but a few days journey from the coast where we were kidnapped, and as we were decoyed and drove along, we were soon conducted to a factory, and from thence, in the fashionable way of traffic, consigned to Grenada……..I was born in the city of Agimaque, on the coast of Fantyn; my father was a companion to the chief in that part of the country of Fantyn and when the old king died I was left in his house with his family,…”
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