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?
Equiano refers to possibly African Slavers, or maybe even Slaves themselves working on the ship. They were most likely African Slavers who felts pity for the young man, as Slaves on the ship would tell Equiano about the horrors that he may have to endure.
People went wild, and decided that the civil rights act was usless (just say that they disliked it) and just made African American people More miserable
