Olaudah Equiano

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano,
or Gustavus Vassa.

Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa
By: Ian McShea

Olaudah Equiano was born in Eboe, a place in Guinea. However, the actual place of his birth is disputed by many historians. He had a large family, but in his biography he mainly talks about his Younger sister. He was part of a tribe, where everyone lived in a little village and hunted and farmed.
Olaudah Equiano spent most of his life “moving”. When he turned 11 he and his sister were captured by slave traders and took them all over Africa, where they worked for various people as slaves. They were separated for a while, but when he was sold to a family in Côte d’Ivoire, they ended up by fate, in the same place. This was short lived, as for only a little while; his sister was then taken to another place. He never saw her again. He then was taken again and put on a slave ship, where he was taken to the colonies. He was a slave in the colonies for a long time in Virginia. He then was bought by Captain Michael Pascal, Who renamed him Gustavus Vassa. Being on a ship for a long time, he got same naval training during the 7 years war with France. He became Pascal’s favorite servant, and sent him to his sister’s to go to school in England, where he learned to read and write.
Equiano was sold to Montserrat, in the Caribbean Leeward Islands. Since he could read and write, and was able to navigate a ship, he wasn’t a favorable slave. He was acquired by Robert King, a Quaker merchant from Philadelphia. King promised that for forty pounds, the price he paid for Equiano, he could buy his freedom. He was educated more and more and was taught the Christian faith. He then was able to pay King for his freedom. He then moved to England, where he began his work on hs biography.
He joined the abolitionist movement and his biography is the first written information on the accounts of a slave, which helped to spearhead the abolitionist movement. His biography revealed the horrors of slavery, and spread the truth about slavery. Slavery, he explained, brutalizes everyone - the slaves, their overseers, plantation wives, and the whole of society.
He contributed the freeing of slaves and the abolition of slavery altogether. He made the world change, and showed, truly, that the pen is mightier than the sword. He died in 1797.