The Life of Olaudah Equiano

This memoir is a slave narrative, travel tale, and spiritual journey all-in-one...his life is a tale of terror as well as an exciting adventure.

About the author

Olaudah Equiano, known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa, was a writer and abolitionist from, according to his memoir, the Eboe region of the Kingdom of Benin. Enslaved as a child, he was taken to the Caribbean and sold as a slave to a Royal Navy officer. He was sold twice more but purchased his freedom in 1766.

Summary

A remarkable account of early slavery and later freedom,The Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written By Himself, is the 1789 autobiography of former slave Olaudah Equiano. This memoir is a slave narrative, travel tale, and spiritual journey all-in-one. His life is a tale of terror as well as an exciting adventure.

This fascinating account describes Equiano's abduction from Africa at the age of ten and the years spent in labor on slave ships. It documents his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible, and his eventual success in gaining his own freedom in 1766. What follows is success in business, in literacy, and a move to becoming an influential African advocate of abolishing the slave trade in Britain during the late 18th century. Equiano’s degraded youth and respected later life in England is told with verve and sophistication in this spirited quest for fulfillment.

A real masterpiece and a book of historical importance, the book was one of the first widely read slave narratives and was a precursor to other such slave narratives as that of Frederick Douglass. The work has proven so influential in the study of African and African-American literature that it is frequently taught in both English literature and history classrooms in universities.

Product details

• Authors: Olaudah Equiano
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 16.07.2020
• EAN: 9781722504724
• ISBN: 978-1-72250-472-4
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; Biography: general, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Social Activists, Biography: historical, political & military, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Minority Studies, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Advocacy, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Services, Political activism, Social welfare & social services, Social welfare and social services, Ethnic groups and multicultural studies, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, Biography: historical, political and military, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Biracial & Multiracial Studies, Political activism / Political engagement, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Cultural & Regional