The Slave Trade and Colonization: Tutorial Part C
Read the excerpt and answer the question that follows.
When I recovered a little I found some black people about me, who I believed were some of those who brought me on
board, and had been receiving their pay; they talked to me in order to cheer me, but all in vain. I asked them if we
were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair. They told me I was not; and
one of the crew brought me a small portion of spirituous liquor in a wine glass; but, being afraid of him, I would not
take it out of his hand. One of the blacks therefore took it from him and gave it to me, and I took a little down my
palate, which, instead of reviving me, as they thought it would, threw me into the greatest consternation at the
strange feeling it produced, having never tasted any such liquor before. Soon after this, the blacks who brought me on
board went off, and left me abandoned to despair.
What role do you think the black people on the slave ship had that Equiano refers to in this excerpt?