They often detailed the harrowing conditions of the Middle Passage, to help provoke debate about opposition to slavery. Their literacy allowed them to petition parliament on issues, write letters to newspapers, and speak at lectures. They are recognised as Britain's first Black lobby group. His autobiography was the first influential work in what became the slave narrative genre, which included written accounts of enslaved Africans in Great Britain and its colonies.Įquiano was a founding member of the group of previously-enslaved Black writers and activists known as the Sons of Africa, a small abolitionist group.

'But is not the slave trade entirely a war with the heart of man? And surely that which is begun by breaking down the barriers of virtue involves in its continuance destruction to every principle, and buries all sentiments in ruin!'Įquiano was foremost in a group of men and women who were publishing in English and introducing the British public to African thought for the first time. He travelled around Britain and Ireland giving lectures, and advancing the abolitionist cause by giving voice to the horrors of slavery. It became a bestseller and was translated into many languages, going through eight editions in his lifetime.

Some of his abolitionist friends encouraged him to tell his life story, and thus the idea of his autobiography was formed.Įquiano's autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, was published in 1789. With first-hand experience of life as a slave, Equiano became friends with and supported many people involved in the abolitionist movement, the movement to end the slave trade. Equiano eventually settled in London, where he'd been baptized earlier in his life at St Margaret's Westminster, in 1759.

The story of olaudah equiano