Olaudah Equiano
He bought his freedom, kept the rights to his book, and died the wealthiest Black man in the English-speaking world.
He bought his freedom, kept the rights to his book, and died the wealthiest Black man in the English-speaking world.
Olaudah was born around 1745. By his account he was Igbo, born in Essaka in what is now southeastern Nigeria. He had six brothers and sisters and around the age of eleven, he and his sister were left alone to look after their family premises and were kidnapped, separated and sold to slave traders. He tried to escape but was thwarted. Equiano saw his sister again but they were separated and that would be the last time he’d see her or any family member.
Six months after being kidnapped, he was taken on board a European slave ship and transported with 244 other enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados where he and others were later sold. A British naval officer named Michael Henry Pascal bought him and renamed him Gustavus Vassa against his will.
Olaudah served in the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War, he learned to read and write and to trade. In 1766 he bought his freedom.
After that he worked as a merchant, a seaman, a musician, a barber, and a civil servant and wrote letters to London newspapers arguing on behalf of Black Britons. In 1787 he joined the Sons of Africa, Britain's first Black abolitionist group.
In March 1789, Equiano published his memoir, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.
It was two volumes, 530 pages and he sold it by subscription. Buyers paid before printing and their names appeared in the front of the book. The subscriber list opens with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and the Duke of Cumberland, followed by pages of earls, bishops, and doctors.
The book was released while the privy council was finishing its slave trade hearings. Olaudah opened the book with a petition to Parliament and ended it with an anti-slavery letter to the queen.
Olaudah chose to keep the copyright which meant he kept most of his profits. He published nine British editions between 1789 and 1794 and Olaudah toured Ireland, Scotland, and England speaking and selling the book in person.
The book was translated into German, Dutch, and Russian. For three years after publication it was the only new literary work from England reprinted in the United States.
During his time, Olaudah was the wealthiest Black man in the English-speaking world. He even lent money to English borrowers. At the time of his passing in 1797, his estate was valued at £950 which would be €181,105.12 today. Because he self-published and vigorously promoted his autobiography, he became one of the wealthiest authors of African descent in the English-speaking world during the 18th century.
