Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made ManThis definitive biography tells the story of the former slave Olaudah Equiano (1745?–1797), who in his day was the English-speaking world’s most renowned person of African descent. Equiano’s greatest legacy is his classic 1789 autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself. A key document of the early movement to ban the slave trade, as well as the fundamental text in the genre of the African American slave narrative, it includes the earliest known purported firsthand description by an enslaved victim of the horrific Middle Passage from Africa to the Americas. Equiano, the African is filled with fresh revelations about this many-sided figure. |
From inside the book
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Page 7
... manners and customs of a people among whom I first drew my breath " ( 43 ) combines personal recollection , cited authorities , unacknowledged accounts by others , and information gained from some of the " numbers of the natives of Eboe ...
... manners and customs of a people among whom I first drew my breath " ( 43 ) combines personal recollection , cited authorities , unacknowledged accounts by others , and information gained from some of the " numbers of the natives of Eboe ...
Page 9
... manner of our greatest warriors " ( 46 ) . Like the enslaved African royalty who appear so often in fictional accounts of the slave trade , Equiano represents himself as having had an exalted status in " Eboe " : " Those children whom ...
... manner of our greatest warriors " ( 46 ) . Like the enslaved African royalty who appear so often in fictional accounts of the slave trade , Equiano represents himself as having had an exalted status in " Eboe " : " Those children whom ...
Page 12
... manner as they did . " Cleanliness was " a part of religion , and therefore we had many purifications and washings ... manners and government of a people who have little commerce with other countries are generally very simple ; and the ...
... manner as they did . " Cleanliness was " a part of religion , and therefore we had many purifications and washings ... manners and government of a people who have little commerce with other countries are generally very simple ; and the ...
Page 13
... manners are simple , our luxuries are few , " and " our manner of living is entirely plain ; for as yet the natives are unacquainted with those refinements in cookery which debauch the taste " ( 34 , 35 ) . Their food consists of ...
... manners are simple , our luxuries are few , " and " our manner of living is entirely plain ; for as yet the natives are unacquainted with those refinements in cookery which debauch the taste " ( 34 , 35 ) . Their food consists of ...
Page 14
... manner of procuring them before they are suffered to pass . Sometimes indeed we sold slaves to them , but they were only prisoners of war , or such among us as had been convicted of kidnapping , or adultery , and some other crimes which ...
... manner of procuring them before they are suffered to pass . Sometimes indeed we sold slaves to them , but they were only prisoners of war , or such among us as had been convicted of kidnapping , or adultery , and some other crimes which ...
Contents
1 | |
17 | |
39 | |
Chapter Four Freedom Denied | 71 |
Chapter Five Bearing Witness | 92 |
Chapter Six Freedom of a Sort | 119 |
Chapter Seven Toward the North Pole | 135 |
Chapter Eight Born Again | 161 |
Chapter Ten The Black Poor | 202 |
Chapter Eleven Turning against the Slave Trade | 236 |
Chapter Twelve Making a Life | 270 |
Chapter Thirteen The Art of the Book | 303 |
Chapter Fourteen A SelfMade Man | 330 |
Notes | 369 |
Bibliography | 395 |
Index | 419 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abolition abolitionist African British African descent America appeared Atlantic autobiography Benezet Bight of Biafra black poor boat Britain British called captain century Christian Church Clarkson coast colonies command crew Cugoano death deck Eboe edition eighteenth eighteenth-century England English enslaved Africans European Farmer freedom French frontispiece George Granville Sharp Guinea Gustavus Vassa History House of Commons human identity Igbo Ignatius Sancho Indian Interesting Narrative Irving island Jamaica James John King land letter London Lord Mansfield master Middle Passage Montserrat Morning Post Mosquito Mosquito Coast muster list naval Negroes never North Norwich Olaudah Equiano owners Pascal passage Phipps Pitt planters Public Advertiser published Quakers Ramsay readers Royal Navy sailed Sancho seamen servant ship Sierra Leone slavery Society sold soon subscribers Thomas thought tion told transatlantic slave trade Vasa vessel voyage West Indies William writing