This man is Olaudah Equiano. He was captured and sold as a slave when he was young. Later he was able to buy his freedom and he campaigned for the slave trade to be abolished. He wrote an autobiography to tell his story to the world.

But his book was published in 1789 and people are forgetting. Equiano would never want the world to forget what happened to him and millions of people like him. He is an important primary source for the Atlantic slave trade and abolition.

Your task is to help educate the class about the Atlantic Slave Trade. Work in groups to create a powerpoint on one of the topics below, but remember to include information from Equiano whenever possible.

Topics

What was the Atlantic Slave Trade?

What happened to captured Africans?

What were conditions like for slaves in America or the Caribbean?

What happened to escaped slaves?

How was Scotland involved in the slave trade?

How did people campaign against slavery?

General Websites

Freedom! The transatlantic slave trade

Juneteenth

The story of Africa: the transatlantic slave trade

The underground railroad

The Abolitionist

Abolition from BBC History

Understanding slavery

Equiano Websites

Remembering Equiano

Olaudah Equiano

BBC historic figures: Olaudah Equiano

Oladauh Equiano: Black Britain's founding father

The Equiano Project

Scotland and Slavery

Scotland and the abolition of the slave trade

Slavery and Glasgow

Assessment

Group Work - Each student is graded by the group.
1 point - Student did not participate.
2 points - Student participated to a small degree.
3 points - Student offered a few helpful thoughts and ideas.
4 points - Student offered opinions and ideas that helped others a great deal.

Research (to be graded by teacher and student together)
1 point - Student used one or two resources.
2 points - Student used a few online resources but shows low level of understanding
3 points - Student used a variety of online resources and shows good understanding.
4 points - Student went out of the way to gather independent resources and shows excellent understanding of the material.

Article for website (to be graded by teacher)
1 point - Student made minimal effort, copied much material from sources.
2 points - Student made an effort to put material into his or her own words.
3 points - Student had original thoughts and took the time to organise material.
4 points - Student wrote and organised the article, drawing on many resources.

Presentation of research (a joint grade for each group from classmates and teacher)
1 point - Student put in little preparation, stumbled over material.
2 points - Student did a good job but did not make extra effort.
3 points - Student presented informative and well-planned material.
4 points - Student's and group's extra effort was obvious to all.