The journey
- childhoodKidnapped as a child and taken across the Atlantic. He would later describe the conditions in the ship's hold in detail.
- serviceHe ends up with owners connected to the navy and trade. He learns to read, write, and count, and goes on voyages.
- 1766After saving the necessary sum by trading small goods, he buys his freedom and becomes a free man.
- 1789He publishes a book about his life and travels around the country presenting it and speaking against the slave trade.
Buying your freedom was legal, but rare. An owner could name any price and refuse at the last moment; without the right to own property, only a few managed to save enough.
The book was published by subscription: people paid in advance, and well-known names appeared on the subscriber list. It went through many editions during the author's lifetime and was translated into several languages.
Why it had an impact
Before it, people argued about the slave trade in terms of numbers and profit. Here, for the first time in widely read print, a person who had lived through it all spoke for himself - and nothing could counter a first-person description of the ship's hold.
The author also chose his form carefully. The book is written calmly, without curses, with details about trade and seafaring - so that a middle-class reader would see the narrator as an equal, not as a victim from another world.
He traveled through dozens of cities, speaking to the public, and worked with the movement to abolish the slave trade. Parliamentary hearings at the time drew in part on testimonies like his.
Historians debate where he was born: some documents point not to Africa but to the colonies. This does not affect the main point - the book's account of the voyage and enslavement is confirmed by other sources.
How did he gain his freedom?
Why did his book affect the public?
Sources
- This refers to Olaudah Equiano, who bought his freedom in 1766 and published his autobiography in 1789
- the book went through many editions during his lifetime and was used by the movement to abolish the slave trade in Britain. Some documents point to a different birthplace than the one given in the book
- the question remains a subject of historiographical debate
Next in the “The Slave Trade” series
2 articles in full on the site, 3 more in the app
