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Courtney Adams
Dr. Janel Cope History 1700
Primary Source Essay
April 8, 2016
Autobiography of Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano was a man who was born in the district of Eboe in
Africa (present day Nigeria) in the year 1745. Equiano wrote an
autobiography about his life, detailing his experiences of being a slave and
becoming a free man. He was born into an African tribe where his father was
an elder. When he was still a young child, Olaudah, along with his sister,
were captured and sold as slaves. Equiano lives many years as an enslaved
persons and he has 4 different owners. Living in Barbados, Virginia, England,
and Canada, he also spent much of his time at sea. In his twenties, Equiano
was able to buy his freedom from his current owner and was able to get an
actual job. He worked with projects and programs to help freed slaves live
and work safely. Olaudah knew that his most powerful argument against
slavery was his own experiences, which is why he starts the autobiography.
The autobiography, known as The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, starts off with a
description of the culture and life in Africa around the time Olaudah was born
and lived there. Then it goes to talk about the authors family and his
kidnapping. Olaudah describes the kidnapping, One day, when all our
people were gone out to their works as usual, and only I and my dear sister

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were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in
a moment seized us both, and, without giving us time to cry out, or make
resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest
wood. Just a few days after being captured, Olaudah is separated from his
sister, thinking he would never see her again.
Equiano was first a slave in different areas of Africa with a few different
masters before getting on the slave boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean. He
describes the slave boat as being terrifying, and brutal, I had never
experienced anything of this kind before; and although, not being used to the
water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet nevertheless,
could I have got over the nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I
could not; and, besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not
chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water: and I have
seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut for attempting
to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating. He was worried that the white
men would put him to death because they were so brutal towards not only
blacks, but some of their own white brothers. When the ship they were on
docked, they were let off and taken to a slave auction where Olaudah was
sold to a man who lived in Virginia. Under his master he would weed grass
and gather stone. With no one around that could understand Olaudah, he felt
very alone and wished death upon himself. Equiano was scared the entire
time he was with this master. The captain of a merchant ship, Michael Henry
Pascal, was Olaudahs second master. They set sail for England and he had

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witnessed white men treating him with respect, white was contrary from
what he had seen before. On this journey, Pascal had renamed Olaudah
Gustavus Vassa.
When they arrived in England in the spring of 1757, Olaudah was only
twelve years old. In England he was introduced to some friends of Pascals
who taught him English and also taught him how to read and write and
became a Christian. In 1763, Pascal sells Olaudah to Captain James Duran,
who takes him to the island of Montserrat and then sells him to Robert King.
He is enslaved by King for 3 years, trading and saving his money to buy his
freedom.
Once Olaudah is a freed slave he travels back to London, working at
sea as an able seaman, steward and captain. After traveling and working on
many projects, he, once again, returns to London. This time in London, he
works with the Sierra Leone resettlement project, which helped provide a
safe place for freed slaves to live and work. Olaudah also formed the Sons of
Africa group that worked towards abolition non-violently. He did as much as
he could to help the lives of slaves and even freed slaves.
As mentioned earlier, the main reason that Olaudah decided to write
an autobiography was because he believed that his own life experiences
were the best argument he had against slavery. He decided to let the whole
world know the hardships he went through. The book was directed to help
gain support towards abolition. I could only assume that reading this book

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detailing the horrendous, brutal and cruel lives of slaves would change the
minds of many on the topic of slavery, for more to be against slavery.
Olaudah wanted to world to see how hard slaves have it, and he wanted to
question the slave owners beliefs in liberty and god. O, ye nominal
Christians! might not an African ask you, learned you this from your God,
who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you?
Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends to toil for your
luxury and lust of gain? Here, he is basically saying if you believe in the
Christian god, whom believes that you should do to others what you would
want others to do to you, then how can you treat Africans this way? Youre
already tearing us away from our homes and families, is that not enough?
You have to torture, abuse and work us to death too?
Olaudah wasnt very happy as a slave, as anyone would imagine. His
times with Pascal and King werent nearly as brutal and cruel as when he was
with other masters. They treated him as an actual person, though he was a
slave and worked for them, they werent abusive and didnt see him as nonhuman as most masters. Even with good times and good masters, Olaudah
welcomed the thought of death many, many times.
After writing the first part of his autobiography, Equiano traveled and
worked hard to promote his book. He spent a lot of time campaigning against
slavery and speaking at a large number of public meetings. Eventually, his
book became a bestseller and was sold in multiple languages. The

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autobiography was a big stepping stone towards abolition, it helped educate

those and expand the knowledge of the lives slaves lived.