who was olaudah equiano?

Answer 1

Hey Isaiah,

Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African
According to his famous autobiography, written in 1789, Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797) was born in what is now Nigeria. Kidnapped and sold into slavery in childhood, he was taken as a slave to the New World. As a slave to a captain in the Royal Navy, and later to a Quaker merchant, he eventually earned the price of his own freedom by careful trading and saving. As a seaman, he travelled the world, including the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the Atlantic and the Arctic, the latter in an abortive attempt to reach the North Pole. Coming to London, he became involved in the movement to abolish the slave trade, an involvement which led to him writing and publishing The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African (1789) a strongly abolitionist autobiography. The book became a bestseller and, as well as furthering the anti-slavery cause, made Equiano a wealthy man. These web pages aim to reflect the best in Equiano scholarship. Click on the links below to find out more, and return to this site soon, as information is regularly updated.

Answer 2

This African chant mourns the loss of Olaudah Equiano, an 11-year-old boy and son of an African tribal leader who was kidnapped in 1755, from his home far from the African coast, in what is now Nigeria. He was one of millions of Africans who were sold into slavery from the 15th through the 19th centuries. Later Equiano acquired his freedom, and, in 1789, wrote his widely read autobiography: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.

"I believe there are few events in my life that have not happened to many," wrote Equiano in his autobiography. The "many" he refers to are the millions of free Africans who were kidnapped and enslaved, marched to the coast and sold to European slave traders, survived - but more often died on - the notorious "Middle Passage" across the Atlantic Ocean, then sold into slavery most often to forced labor on plantations in South America, the Caribbean and North America.
Much more info on this website