Against the Odds | Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797) | His Road From Slavery to British Abolitionist

Against many harsh odds, Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797) became an African writer. He used his experience as a former enslaved person to teach and encourage the British abolition movement. 

In his 1789 autobiography, “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano,” he writes about his early life. Kidnappers stole him and his sister from what is now South Nigeria. They traveled through many tribal areas with different languages to West Africa. There, he saw the first white men, whom he assumed must be spirits or evil beings. He feared he was going to be killed and eaten. The overwhelming stench of the ship warned him of its evil purpose before he was even on board. After that, the chains and the cries of other captives horrified him. 

Equiano sailed from West Africa to Barbados before arriving in Virginia. A Royal Navy officer named Michael Pascal bought him. Equiano served as Pascal’s servant, sailing the oceans for eight years. During that time, he received baptism and learned to read and write in English.

Although promising freedom, Pascal then sold him to a London ship captain. The captain then sold him to Robert King, a Quaker merchant in the West Indies. Equiano worked as a deckhand, valet, and barber for the merchant. King also allowed him to earn money by trading on the side. In 1766, Equiano bought his freedom, then traveled the world for the next 20 years. His travels included trips to faraway Turkey and the Arctic.

Equiano’s autobiography became a bestseller with several printings over the years. The book and his speaking helped the British readers recognize the hideous cruelty and the emotional devastation of enslaving human beings. As a well-known author, he traveled and spoke across Britain. His life and work showed that Africans could possess the same level of intellectual and moral reasoning as Europeans. He challenged the morality of slavery under Christian principles.

Olaudah Equiano’s legacy helped achieve the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. The British transatlantic slave trade ended.