The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

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But is not the slave trade entirely a war with the heart of man?

In 1789, Olaudah Equiano published his remarkable autobiography of his journey from enslavement to freedom. Kidnapped from his home in West Africa and sold into slavery as a child, Equiano – renamed Gustavus Vassa – travelled the world as an enslaved man, before he eventually purchased his freedom and became a leading figure in the British abolition campaign.

One of the earliest known books published by a Black African author, Equiano’s vivid and harrowing life story shed light on the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade. The Interesting Narrative has been widely celebrated for its impact on the abolitionist movement and remains today a powerful record of the horrors of slavery.

About the author

Olaudah Equiano was a writer and abolitionist who was sold into slavery as a child and renamed Gustavus Vassa. Equiano purchased his freedom in 1766 and became a leading figure in the British abolition movement, before publishing his autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano in 1789.