Olaudah Equiano was 10 years old when he was kidnapped from his people and sold into slavery. After being bounced around from slaver to slaver he eventually ended up in Virginia where he earned his freedom and went on to become a missionary.
Mr. Equiano in recounting how his journey mentioned how in crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean, the slaves on the ship were badly mistreated. In one instance, the traders did some fishing and after eating and filling themselves, they tossed the remaining fish back in the seas rather than feed their captives.
Two of Equiano's “wearied countrymen” who were chained together could no longer stand the situation and with probable knowledge of situations being worse where they were headed to, jumped overboard into the ocean because they preferred death to the slavery that awaited.
Fifteenth Amendment "commands that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race or color, and it gives Congress the power to enforce that command. The Amendment is not designed to punish for the past; its purpose is to ensure a better future."
