Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-made ManA controversial look at the most renowned person of African descent in the eighteenth century In this widely aclaimed biography, historian Vincent Carretta gives us the authoritative portrait of Olaudah Equiano (c.1745-1797), the former slave whose 1789 autobiography quickly became a popular polemic against the slave trade and a literary classic. Sailor, entrepreneur, and adventurer, Equiano is revealed here as never before, thanks to archival research on an unprecedented scale--some of which even indicates that Equiano may have lied about his origins to advance the antibondage struggle with which he became famously identified. A masterpiece of scholarship and writerly poise, this book redefines an extraordinary man and the turbulent age that shaped him. |
Contents
Chapter One Equianos Africa | 1 |
Chapter Two The Middle Passage | 17 |
Chapter Three At Sea | 39 |
Copyright | |
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abolition abolitionist abolitionist cause African British African descent African slave African slave trade American appeared Atlantic autobiography Benezet black poor Britain British Britons called captain century Christian Clarkson coast colonies command committee copies crew Cugoano death 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 island Jamaica James John King land letter London Lord Mansfield master Middle Passage Montserrat Mosquito Mosquito Coast native naval Negroes never North Olaudah Equiano Oroonoko owners Parliament Pascal passage Phipps Pitt planters political Public Advertiser published Quakers Ramsay readers Royal Navy sailed Sancho seaman SEAST servants ship Sierra Sierra Leone slavery social Society status subscribers Thomas thought tion Tobin transatlantic slave trade Vasa vessel voyage West Indies William writing