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 10
... thing we ate . I was so fond of my mother I could not keep from her , or avoid touching her at some of those periods , in consequence of which I was obliged to be kept out with her , in a little house made for that purpose , till ...
... thing we ate . I was so fond of my mother I could not keep from her , or avoid touching her at some of those periods , in consequence of which I was obliged to be kept out with her , in a little house made for that purpose , till ...
Page 12
... things , and that he lives in the sun , and is girded round with a belt , that he may never eat or drink ; but , according to some , he smokes a pipe , which is our own favourite luxury . They believe he governs events , especially our ...
... things , and that he lives in the sun , and is girded round with a belt , that he may never eat or drink ; but , according to some , he smokes a pipe , which is our own favourite luxury . They believe he governs events , especially our ...
Page 24
... thing but what they forced into my mouth . At length , after many days travelling , during which I had often changed masters , I got into the hands of a chieftain , in a very pleasant country . This man had two wives and some children ...
... thing but what they forced into my mouth . At length , after many days travelling , during which I had often changed masters , I got into the hands of a chieftain , in a very pleasant country . This man had two wives and some children ...
Page 26
... thing here , and all their treatment of me , made me forget that I was a slave . The language of these people resembled ours so nearly , that we understood each other perfectly . They had also the very same customs as we . There were ...
... thing here , and all their treatment of me , made me forget that I was a slave . The language of these people resembled ours so nearly , that we understood each other perfectly . They had also the very same customs as we . There were ...
Page 29
... thing but weep . Our meeting affected all who saw us ; and indeed I must acknowledge , in honour of those sable destroyers of human rights , that I never met with any ill treatment , or saw any offered to their slaves , except tying ...
... thing but weep . Our meeting affected all who saw us ; and indeed I must acknowledge , in honour of those sable destroyers of human rights , that I never met with any ill treatment , or saw any offered to their slaves , except tying ...
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