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Olaudah Equiano
1745 - 1797
Name: Olaudah Equiano / Gustavus Vassa
Birthplace: West Africa
Status: Slave
Occupation/Training: Sailor, Author
Residence: England, West Indies, Philadelphia
Abolitionist Involvement: Born in Africa, Equiano was a child born into a royal family. At the age of 10 he was captured and traded eventually to white captors in the slave trade. He was taken to Virginia, then later to England when sold to a British naval officer. While in England, he had a chance to obtain some education, learned to speak English. He traveled for several years with his master, but when he asked of the possibility of gaining his freedom, this so angered his master that he sent him to the West Indies to be sold. He was fortunate to have been sold to a Quaker, from whom he later purchased his freedom. He learned the methods of sailing and traveled often between Philadelphia and the West Indies. The issues surrounding abolition were of strong interest to him. He met often with local abolitionists, and was particularly interested in supporting the causes of the Quakers and their assistance of slaves leaving bondage. He did fear that his former master would renege and attempt to keep him in bondage, and he plotted to seize the ship and escape. But he was given his freedom papers in 1766. He traveled often to Philadelphia and visited the free schools for Negro children, and gave his support in whatever way he could. He began to write about his life story, and produced an Interesting Narrative about his life story. His autobiography is considered equal in quality and writing clarity as that of Frederick Douglass and Benjamin Franklin. He is the first former slave to use the autobiography as an abolitionist genre. In 1777 he returned to London and took up the campaign to abolish slavery. Acted as a commissary for the Sierra Leone resettlement project.
Family: Wife - Susan Cullen Daughters: Anna Maria 1793 and Johanna
Place of Death: Cambridgeshire England
Publications: Interesting Narrative, Equiano's Travels Written by himself and edited with an Introduction by Robert J. Allison (Bedord Books 1995). For children: The Kidnapped Prince - The Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano adapted by Ann Cameron (Knopf, Inc. 1995).
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