There is debate about the validity of an important part of Equiano’s story: his birthplace. While his memoir claims that he was born in Essake, Eboe, Africa, information uncovered in 1999 suggests that his birthplace was South Carolina. Some argue that the location doesn’t matter, that his story still has merit and the message of abolition remains intact. Personally, I found the memoir to sound realistic overall—save a few details I will mention later—and for me it doesn’t really matter where he was born.
Arguments for his birth in Africa include the detailed description of the life, culture, and practices of his people in a small village. Additionally, the detailed and mostly accurate depictions of “the middle passage,” or the journey aboard a slave ship from West Africa to the Caribbean and eventually America, support this claim. Actually, his memoir contains perhaps the first account of this journey from the perspective of a slave written in the English language.
In his book Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man, Professor Carretta of the University of Maryland reveals two uncovered documents, a baptismal record from St. Margaret’s Church dated 9 February 1759 and a Royal Navy muster roll from Constantine Phipp’s Arctic expedition of 1773—both of which state that he was born in South Carolina. Skeptics argue that these documents might be the result of translation errors, as in when Equiano was asked “Where are you from?” he thought that meant more recently “Where do you come from?” not “Where were you born?”[1] This is feasible, however at the time of these documents, Equiano should have been already fluent in English.
From my own personal experience and knowledge, I found certain parts of the memoir dubious. For example, he describes seeing airborne fish for the first time: “During our passage I first saw flying fishes, which surprised me very much: they used frequently to fly across the ship, and many of them fell on the deck” (74). Personally, I find this to be highly unlikely. Maybe one or two launched from the top of a large wave could make its way over the tall deck and high railing of a sloop, but for them to frequently do so would surprise me. I live in Florida, and as a frequent boater I have seen flying fish many times just from waves and glide for a hundred yards or more, but never over a few inches from the surface of the water. I have never seen them gain altitude and typically they are spooked by boats and end up “flying” away from them. However, these are just my conjectures from limited personal experience.
#11/29/2011
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