Books by Olaudah Equiano

DISCOVER THE INDIGNITIES AND REALITIES OF SLAVERY FROM A CAPTIVATING FIRST-HAND NARRATIVEOlaudah Equiano's interesting narrative is an astonishing first-hand account of kidnapping, enslavement and eventual emancipation that has horrified and enlightened readers for over 200 years. The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano is a seminal work in a genre that seeks to help us better shape the present by understanding our violent past.An insightful Introduction from Atlantic slave trade expert Michael Taylor sheds light on Equiano's life, including his spiritual conversion, his wide travels, and the impact of his writing on the eventual abolition of slavery.

Excerpt: "I believe it is difficult for those who publish their own memoirs to escape the imputation of vanity; nor is this the only disadvantage under which they labour: it is also their misfortune, that what is uncommon is rarely, if ever, believed, and what is obvious we are apt to turn from with disgust, and to charge the writer with impertinence. People generally think those memoirs only worthy to be read or remembered which abound in great or striking events, those, in short, which in a high degree excite either admiration or pity: all others they consign to contempt and oblivion." The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano describes Equiano''s time spent in enslavement and documents his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible along with his eventual success in gaining his own freedom and in business thereafter. Published in 1789 and attracting attention, was considered highly influential in gaining passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807, which ended the African trade for Britain and its colonies. Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797) known in his lifetime as Gustavus Vassa was a prominent African in London, a freed slave who supported the British movement to end the slave trade.

A best seller of its time, Olaudah Equiano's story of his life as a slave in the second half of the eighteenth century continues to this day to aid our understanding of the Atlantic slave trade and our fight against modern slavery. According to his memoir, eleven-year old Equiano and his sister were kidnapped from their village (in what is now southern Nigeria) by African slavers. He changed owners several times before being taken to the coast and forced aboard a slave ship destined for Barbados, ending up working for three different slave masters in journeys that took him around the West Indies and across the Atlantic. Although slavery was part of the culture of many African tribes, including his own, the Eboes, what incensed Equiano more than anything was the heartless cruelty of the transatlantic slavers. His Christian conversion also later prompted him to abhor the institution of slavery itself no matter where it was practised. Equiano bought his freedom after some 20 years in servitude and, many travels later, settled in England where, as a British citizen, he joined with white and black abolitionists to campaign for the end of slavery in Britain's colonies.

Olaudah Equiano known in his lifetime as Gustavus Vassa was a freed slave of Igbo extraction from the eastern part of present-day Nigeria, who supported the British movement to end the slave trade. His autobiography, published in 1789, helped in the creation of the Slave Trade Act 1807 which ended the African slave trade for Britain and its colonies.This book has been deemed as a classic and has stood the test of time. The book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations.

The Interesting Narrative is a first-hand account of the horrors of slavery, published on the eve of the British abolition debate in 1789. The most important African autobiography of the 18th century, it recounts Equiano's adventures on land and sea. This edition's introduction surveys recent debates about Equiano's birthplace and identity.