Olaudah Equiano

Where was he from?

The youngest son of a village leader, Equiano was born among the Ibo people in the kingdom of Benin, along the Niger River.

What happened? How did he become a slave??

Slavery was an intregal part of the Ibo culture, as it was with many other African peoples. His family owned slaves, but there was also a continual threat of being abducted, of becoming someone else's slave. This is what happened, one day, while Equiano and his sister were at home alone.

Modern Voices

Asoka Perbi on the impact of kidnappings on people's lifestyles

Resource Bank Contents

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1i3019.html

Q: Talk to me about the impact of kidnappings -- how it began to change people's lifestyles.

Asoka Perbi

A: Because of the Atlantic demand for slaves, there was a lot of kidnapping also going on in Africa, especially in Ghana. And kidnapping could be any time of the day. It could be daytime. It could be in the night. You could be on your way trade or to farm, and you could be kidnapped, because some people would lay ambush to kidnap. And because of that, there were times when many people were afraid to go out in the night, because it was worse during the night. You wouldn't know who was laying ambush there to kidnap you. As you read some of these documents, you find a lot of fear expressed in people's lives during the period of Atlantic enslavement. And you find comments like, "Nobody dares go out during the night in this part of the coast, because of fear that they may be kidnapped into slavery." And kidnapping went on in almost every part of Ghana, especially in the coast and in the northern part.

Three years ago, during my research, I was talking to somebody in one of the archives, in Brong-Ahafo, called Sunyani. And I mentioned kidnapping and so on. And then he said, "My grandmother was kidnapped into enslavement." And I was surprised. And I said, "Tell me more." And he said: "My grandmother said she remembers very well that they were in a rice field in the northern part of the country. And they were working on the rice farms when [Samorese] men came and kidnapped them. Now, [Samori-Turi] was one of these people who tried to build a large African state in the northern part of Ghana, in parts of what is today [Bukina Faso]. And by doing that, you also got involved in a lot of slave raiding and slave kidnapping. And she said she remembers very well [Samorese] men kidnapping a number of them when they were busy on their farm, and bringing them to Ghana. And it happened that somebody took the grandmother into the household, married her, and so these people are now part of a family in the Brong-Ahafo region."

So it happened both internally and externally, you know. But it increased because of the external demand. And you find that effect as you go through the documents. And if you look from the 16th to the 19th century, especially 17th-18th, when the trade is at its peak, you find a lot of kidnapping going on because of the Atlantic demand.

Akosua Perbi

Professor of History

University of Ghana

Where did he go?

After he was enslaved, he travelled across Africa as he worked and was sold. After six or seven months, he encountered the first white men and their slave ship.

Where did his travels take him?

How did he gain his freedom?

In 1766, Equiano bought his freedom.

Some facts I bet you didn't know about Olaudah Equiano . . .

OLAUDAH EQUIANO'S STORY DOESN'T END WHEN HE BUYS HIS FREEDOM. HE LIVES A LONG AND VERY NOTABLE LIFE!!

Note: Details of Equiano's early life have been the subject of debate. This information has been taken from his own account. http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server.php?show=ConFactFile.38

1745 Born in Isseke, Nigeria

1756 Kidnapped at the age of 11 and sent to Virginia

1757 Bought by Captain Henry Pascal. He is renamed Gustavus Vassa and sails to London

1758-62 Serves in the Royal Navy during the Seven Years War

1759 Baptised at St Margaret’s Church 1763

Sold to Robert King. Works on trading ships in the West Indies

1766 Buys his freedom

1767 Shipwrecked in the Bahamas on his last mission for his former master

1773 Goes on expedition to find an Arctic passage to India

1774 Unsuccessfully tries to save his friend John Annis from being tortured to death in the West Indies

1775 Takes Communion at Westminster Church. Travels to Nicuaguara to establish a plantation and Christianize the native population

1788 Presents an antislavery petition to the Royal family

1786 Appointed commissary to Sierra Leone

1787 Helps organize the Sons of Africa in London

1789 Publishes his autobiography, ‘The Life of Olaudah Equiano the African’

1792 Marries English woman, Susan Cullen

1797 Dies in London

Olaudah Equiano

Prezi by Michelle Kassorla, Ph.D.