The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano

The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano

This is an account of the slave trade by a native African, former slave. Olaudah Equiano recounts his kidnapping at the age of ten in Africa, his service as the slave of an officer in the British Navy and his years of labour on slave ships until he was able to purchase his freedom in 1766. As a free man on a Central American plantation, he supervised slaves. Increasingly disgusted by their treatment, he returned to England in 1771. In England he worked for the resettlement of blacks in Sierra Leone, married an English woman and became a leading and respected figure in the anti-slave movement. This narrative is an autobiography and a treatise on religion, politics and economics.

Equiano, Olaudah: - Olaudah Equiano (16 October 1745 - 31 March 1797), known in his lifetime as Gustavus Vassa, was a writer and abolitionist from Ashaka Nigeria. Enslaved as a child, he was taken to the Anglo-Caribbean, British West Indies, and sold as a slave to a captain in the Royal Navy. Later he was sold to a Quaker trader. Eventually, he purchased his freedom in 1766 by intelligent trading and careful savings. In London, Equiano was part of the Sons of Africa, an abolitionist group composed of Africans living in Britain, and he was active among leaders of the anti-slave trade movement in the 1780s. He published his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano in 1789, which depicted the horrors of slavery. It went through nine editions and helped gain passage of the British Slave Trade Act of 1807, which abolished the African slave trade. As a freedman in London, he supported the British abolitionist movement. Equiano had a stressful life; he had suffered suicidal thoughts before he became a Protestant Christian and found peace in his faith. After settling in London, Equiano married an English woman named Susannah Cullen in 1792 and they had two daughters. He died in 1797 in Middlesex. Equiano's death was reported in American as well as British newspapers, as his autobiography had been widely read. Plaques commemorating his life have been placed at buildings where he lived in London. Since the late 20th century, when his autobiography was published in a new edition, he has been increasingly studied by a range of scholars, including many from his homeland, Igboland, in the eastern part of Nigeria.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780140434859
ISBN 10	0140434852
Title	The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings
Author	Olaudah Equiano
Series	Penguin Classics S
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Year published	1996-03-28
Number of pages	400
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable