n the same chapter, his letter to the queen makes a plea for the release of the slaves.
9. Equiano points out that his people do many of the same things the Jews do; they practice circumcision, made offerings and feasts like the Jewsùeven eat some of the offerings with bitter herbs like the Jewsùand name their children meaningful names that are derived from an event, a circumstance, or a foreboding (27). They also have similar purification rituals (28). His own name, Olaudah, means vicissitude or fortune, and also a favored one, having a loud voice, and well spoken (27). Equiano, after mentioning a number of similarities with the Jews, also proposed that the Africans were possibly descended from the Jews (29). He did not regard the difference in color as a great obstacle, sinceùas he had observedùother nationalities had become much darker after being transplanted to a hotter climate (30).
10. Equiano seems to see the word ôprimitiveö as connoting ôin its purest state,ö while ômodernö seems to refer to people after they have undergone change.
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