The two books we have read tell the stories of both societies, slaves and Native Americans. John Demo’s The Unredeemed Captive and Odaulah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative share the same elements of race, holding captives, and play a large part in the history of the Atlantic region of the world. They share many of the same features; however Equiano’s tale is one of displacement and slavery, while Demo’s story reflects the Indian warring culture and the practice of taking prisoners and assimilation into the culture. Eventually prisoners of both communities take on the practices and lifestyles of their captors, but are never the same as if they were never captured at all.

The practice of taking captives, whether they are prisoners, kidnappings, or other ways of capturing people, has been around since the dawn of man. It is a tradition that still continues to this day, and almost seems to be human nature. The worst period of forced captivity was during the Atlantic slave trade. Millions of people were captured against their will, and forced to work in an unknown territory, doing hard labor in harsh conditions. The Native Americans of Northeastern North America also took captives, although it was mostly from the spoils of war. Their captured were not treated so badly, and allowed many of the rights that every man deserves.

Odaulah Equiano begins his story in Nigeria, where he compares his culture to that of the Israelites of ancient times. He cites examples of circumcision, respect for elders, and cleanliness as the main similarities between the two cultures. Taking captives was even a part of his society, as prisoners of war were taken and made into slaves, while criminals in the community along with some prisoners of war were sold to passing “mahogany-coloured men” (Equiano 27), who traded guns and other items for the men. The forced to be slaves were only captives or convicts, making it acceptable in Equiano’s mind to trade them or force them into slavery. While the people of Equiano’s village kept slaves, they “did no more work thank other members of the community, even their master. Their food, cloathing, and lodging were nearly the same as theirs, except that they were not permitted to eat with those who were free born and there was scare any other difference between them.” (40) When Equiano was kidnapped from his home along with his sister, he soon learned that slavery outside of his home was very different indeed. Stolen from his home by two captors, Equiano and his sister were dragged across the land and before Equiano reached his final destination, he was separated from his sister. This separation “while they were clasped in each other’s arms” (48), was one of the hardest things to bear for the young Nigerian. Eventually he ended up belonging to a chieftain of a nice land who treated him well. However, this separation of family is an example of the cruelty that was all too common during this time. After escaping and being recaptured, Equiano was dragged across his the land to various places until finally boarding a slave ship to set sail for the West Indies. Equiano’s first view from the coast was the slave ship, which “…filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror…” (55). Equiano describes the horrible, small, disease-infested space of the slave ships that took him to his future as another man’s property. Equiano’s status as property is shown later in his life in many instances, such as when money he has earned is taken without regard for the years of work put in for him to earn it. Another occurrence was when Equiano and a companion of his had fruit for sale, only to have it taken from them by some white men. Overall, the captivity and slavery of the Africans was far different from that described by Equiano in The Interesting Narrative.

The captivity in Northeast North America was not as harsh or cruel as that or their counterparts in the South and Caribbean. The Iroquois nation did not usually take slaves out of necessity for farming or other tasks, but kept prisoners of war as their own, and enslaved them. Some prisoners were returned, such as in the case of John Williams and his son Steven, something that would never be done by the slave traders. For Eunice Williams, she hailed from a very powerful Massachusetts family, and was taken by the Mohawk Indians at a young age. She remained with the Mohawks from age four until the day she passed away. Many attempts were made to rescue her, but she was “unwilling to return” (Demos 146) to her Puritan ways, choosing rather to live with the Mohawk. She took a Native American husband and became fully assimilated into the Mohawk culture. She adopted Catholicism, even though her father was a prominent Puritan minister. Attempts for rescue were made by multiple people, but none worked, and it is even said that Eunice forgot how to speak English at one point. While Eunice was gone, her family acted as if she was still living in their hometown of Deerfield. They included her in their wills and notes as if she “lived just around the corner” (Demos 225).

Race is another factor powering the slave trade. The people who enslaved others felt as if they were above the culture they were enslaving. It was this feeling that colored people were unequal gave people justification for the inhumane acts being committed during the age of slavery. Peoples of all areas were identified by their skin tone, helping to figure out where a person was from, or to which culture one belonged. Equiano describes the men who introduced the slave trade to him as being “mahogany-coloured” (Equiano27). Equiano was frequently mistreated because of his skin color, traveling all around the world only to find that almost everybody he met thought of him as a lesser being. He describes the story of a slave master impregnating his female slaves and putting the children, his sons, to work in his fields. If a man can put his own children through such a horrible existence, it shows how far beneath them many people thought the Africans were.

The Native Americans living in what is now Canada and the United States were also looked down upon by the white settlers. While the color of their skin wasn’t as big an issue as it was with the African population, it still affected how they were looked at and treated by the newcomers. They was the Native Americans lived forced them to be looked down upon more than their skin tone. They were seen as uncivilized, inhumane, and too wild. Their culture and villages were seen as primitive, while their actions were called barbaric. The Native Americans, like the Africans, were treated as less than equals, and unfairly so. The Mohawk were some of the most sophisticated peoples on the continent before the settlers came, but were still seen as inferior.

The final element presented by both The Interesting Narrative and The Unredeemed Captive is the detailed history that each provides to the reader. Equiano provides, in detail, the horrible account of his enslavement. He describes being taken from his home and brought to different masters in Africa before heading overseas and finding life not to be much better there. He describes the battles between the French and the English, and illustrates the intensity of their combat at sea. Equiano provides a first-hand history of how hard it was for a slave to achieve freedom, if even given the opportunity. He is not treated as badly as many other slaves, so his story and retold history is different from that of a slave with a brutal owner. As Equiano shows, slaves did many different tasks aside from just working the fields, they were also “masons, fisherman, and smiths” (Equiano 103). Slaves also provided the backbone of the economy, and pushed a young America and many other countries to new heights. The Unredeemed Captive also gives an in-depth history into the beginning of life in America. It describes the settlers, their towns, jobs, and religion. The lifestyle of the Mohawk Nation is also provided, complete with details of their longhouses, practices, and customs. An overlapping theme in both books other than the three main ones of race, captivity, and American history seems to be religion. Equiano frequently quotes the Scripture throughout his story, while religion was a big part of the lifestyle of Early American life. Eunice Williams even converts to the religion of the Native Americans, showing that it was important to the people who the settlers deemed uncivilized.

Race and captivity played a leading role in the development of the history of the Atlantic. John Demo’s The Unredeemed Captive and Odaulah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative share the same elements of race, holding captives, and illustrate how the themes of captivity and race played a role in the lives of many people during this time. Equiano’s tale is one of displacement and a forced life of labor and slavery. He is eventually able to earn his freedom, but there are numerous struggles along the way. Equiano’s story shows how poorly Africans were treated and respected, and gives the reader a feeling of disgust at the horrors of slavery. Demo’s story reflects the Indian warring culture and the practice of taking prisoners and assimilation into the culture. While many captives chose to leave the Native American culture after their capture, some chose to stay, specifically in the case of Eunice Williams. She became a full part of the Mohawk culture and considered herself a Mohawk, while Equiano considers himself a European. Overall, race and captivity influenced much of Atlantic history, and changed much of the world’s history forever.