Born in the Igbo village of Essaka, in what is now southern Nigeria around 1745, Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped as a child and sold to slave traders. He was transported to the Caribbean and then on for sale in the Colony of Virginia. Equiano was bought by a Royal Navy Officer and given the name, Gustavus Vassa. He was sold twice before purchasing his freedom in 1766.
As a free man in London, Equiano supported the British abolitionist movement, becoming one of the leading figures in the 1780s. Equiano also joined the abolitionist group the ‘Sons of Africa,’ whose members were Africans living in Britain. It is thought to be Britain’s first black political organisation. His 1789 autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, sold so well that nine editions were published during his life. Equiano died in 1797, 10 years before the passing of the British Slave Trade Act 1807 which officially abolished slavery in the UK. To mark the bicentennial anniversary, Olaudah Equiano was featured on a first-class stamp as part of the Abolition of the Slave Trade series in 2007.
Ref: Olaudah Equiano – Wikipedia
Image credit: Equiano by Daniel Orme, frontispiece of his autobiography (1789)
