author
Olaudah Equiano
1745–1797
A powerful first-person witness to slavery, freedom, and the fight for abolition, his life story became one of the most influential books of the 18th century. His writing is vivid, adventurous, and deeply human.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born around 1745, Olaudah Equiano was an African writer and abolitionist who was enslaved as a child and later bought his freedom. He was known for much of his life as Gustavus Vassa, and he spent time at sea before building a life as a free man in Britain.
In 1789 he published The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, a memoir that told his story in striking detail. The book was widely read and helped shape public opinion against the transatlantic slave trade, and he is often seen as one of the most important early voices in the slave narrative tradition.
Equiano died on March 31, 1797. More than two centuries later, his autobiography remains central to the history of abolition, not only for what it records, but for the clarity, intelligence, and moral force of his voice.