ABSTRACT
Usually there was no racial component to enslavement of Africans by other Africans. Both the slave owner and the slave typically were black, although they were often members of different tribal groups. Thus, slaves in ancient Africa were not considered inherently inferior to their owners, and some eventually rose to positions of influence and power. Olaudah Equiano, who was enslaved in Africa and eventually brought to the Americas, pro-
vides valuable information about traditional African slave practices in his 1789 book The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. According to Equiano, he and his family owned slaves, and his tribal group had to be on the alert against raiders who would steal into the village and kidnap children-as eventually occurred to Equiano himself. Equiano was kept as a slave in Africa for several months, and reports that his owners treated him like a member of the family.
