Google is today celebrating the
birthday of Nigerian former slave Olauda Equiano who supported the British
movement to end the slave trade.
After his freedom, he tried to
end the slave trade in British colonies, supporting the British Movement to
abolish the practice.
Equiano was a prominent Nigerian
Writer, Activist and a trader who died on 31 march 1979.
He gave the world one of its
first accounts of the slave trade from a victim’s perspective.
Equiano formed an Anti slave
movement in 1780s that shed light on the tragic life of slaves.
His autobiography, published in
1789, helped in the creation of the Slave Trade Act 1807 which ended the
African trade for Britain and its colonies.
Equiano, born on 16 October 1746
in Essaka in the Eboe province of southern Nigeria was abducted with his sister
at the age of 11 from his home and sold into slavery.
He was separated from his sister and was
subsequently shipped to Barbados with 244 other captives before they were moved
on to Virginia.
When he arrived in the British
colony of Virginia, Equiano was put to work weeding grass and gathering stones.
However, he was sold for £40 to a
Lieutenant Michael Pascal, a royal Navy officer, who renamed him “Gustavus
Vassa”.
Pascal asked his sister-in-law to
teach Olaudah to read and write and he got him baptised during their eight-year
association which was largely spent travelling the seas.
During the seven years’ war with
France, Equiano was at Pascal's side and was employed to haul gunpowder to the
decks to support cannon-fire during sea battles.
In 1765, Olaudah was sold to
London ship’s captain, James Doran.
However, he was sold again to
Robert King, a rich Quaker merchant from Philadelphia.
Fortune smiled on Olaudah as King
allowed him earn money by making deals of his own, trading and saving. Prior to
that, he served as King’s valet, deckhand and even barber.
Three years later, the concession
given to Olaudah by King enabled him buy his freedom through funds accumulated
from the sale of fruit, drinking glasses and other goods.
After securing his freedom, King
urged Olaudah to stay on as a business partner in the West Indies but Equiano
feared recapture following a close call in Georgia, Independent UK reports.
On his return to London, Olaudah
came into contact with the anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharpe and Thomas
Clarkson.
In 1786 he became a prominent
member of the "Sons of Africa" group, which consisted of 12 black men who
campaigned for abolition of slave trade, Express reports. Consequently, in
1789, he published his personal account of slavery, and his experiences as a
black immigrant.
The autobiography: "The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the
African" played a crucial role in alerting eighteenth century audiences to
the suffering endured by slaves.
Simply put, the autobiography brought the horrors of slavery before the British empire in a detailed manner.
It also bolstered the abolitionist cause, inspiring William Wilberforce, Granville Sharp and their fellow campaigners to draft the Slave Trade Act of 1807.
The act subsequently forced an end to human trafficking across the British empire.
You need to employ editors so that you stop pasting
ReplyDeletearticles with mistakes or sometimes nonsense articles or repeating articles.
Was so surprised seeing 270yrs ago and seeing he died in 1979 agn
ReplyDeleteGood information BUT badly proof and edited...
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