Banneker and Equiano

  In his letter to Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Banneker humbly introduces himself as a concerned citizen of color, arguing the unjust treatment of his peers. In his correspondence, he reveals his thoughts about the situation of his brethren, arming himself with the thesis that all men were created equal and at the image of God, therefore entitled to the same rights. Banneker is compelling Sir Jefferson, president of the United States of America, author of the Constitution to take a stand for the enslaved minority, referring to the human kind as a” big family” .He is shaming those who turn a blind eye to the inhuman manipulation of Blacks in America. “If you believe that everyone is created equal, the slave’s inhumanness condition should be abolished”. 

   “The narrative of the life of Aquiano Olaudah, depicts the sad journey of a man made prisoner on a slave ship. Taken from his homeland, he is separated from his sister and reduced to slavery.  Feeling deprived of all humanity; he refers to himself as an object at the service of the white man. Throughout his miserable existence as a slave he discovers new land and is taught different language as he is sold every so often to new masters. The slave expresses his deepest thoughts and secret hopes with such clarity that the reader can almost feel the sorrow and despair that fill the pages of his story.

    The two stories previously discussed, expose the pain of black folks, victims of slavery in America. Two men of color, from different walks of life, share the same thirst for freedom and equality. Both stories lead to the same question: How could we explain Equiano’s experience on the slave ship? If humans feel the same sensations, then wouldn’t the slave-traders have been capable of practicing slavery and enforcing it through such lethal methods?  

  Equiano’s narrative faces its readers with a cruel reality. He uses an oxymoron to express his agony: “I still look back with the pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow.” This is where all the complexity of the human being is exposed. Even during the worst of times, we still have hope for a better tomorrow.

   Men have an innate taste for dominance. For centuries, megalomaniac world leaders caused great suffering to humanity by war, political instability and genocides. We must follow Banneker’s gaze. We mustn’t take one’s precious life for granted, nor can we violate one’s inalienable right to freedom and happiness.  Slave-traders once thought that the only people who were to be called and treated like human beings were those who looked and thought like them. Slave owners once said that “the black skin tone is the inferior category of the mankind.” And they enforced their beliefs by keeping the black man in chains in the cotton fields, by depriving him of all basics rights.            

  The oppression and humiliation that blacks have undergone in America and throughout the world should serve as ammunition to fight racism that is unfortunately persisting. As a nation under God, we must stand together as one and join forces to prevent such plague from happening again. We must not forget the sacrifice of those who came before us. When slaves in America rebelled and fought for their rights, it was to assure that the shackles wouldn’t close once more around the ankles and necks of future generations. They fought, in order for us to no longer feel the lashes on our backs. They fought for freedom, justice.