Olaudah Equiano
Black British abolitionist and writer (c. 1745 – 1797)
Olaudah Equiano (; c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa (), was a writer and abolitionist. According to his memoir, he was from the village of Essaka, presumed to be in present-day southern Nigeria. He is also described as a native of the Eboe (Igbo) province in the 1791 4th edition of his book. Enslaved as a child in West Africa, he was shipped to the Caribbean and sold to a Royal Navy officer. He was sold twice more before purchasing his freedom in 1766.
As a freedman in London, Equiano supported the British abolitionist movement, becoming one of its leading figures in the 1780s. Equiano was part of the abolitionist group the Sons of Africa, whose members were Africans living in Britain. His 1789 autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, sold so well that nine editions were published during his life; it also helped secure passage of the British Slave Trade Act 1807, which abolished the slave trade in Britain. The Interesting Narrative gained renewed popularity among scholars in the late 20th century and remains a useful primary source.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Olaudah Equiano” as black British abolitionist and writer (c. 1745 – 1797). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as black British abolitionist and writer (c. 1745 – 1797). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q379887. VIAF identifies the subject as 22258358. The Library of Congress control number is n50027909. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1745, 1797, 1791 and 1766.
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This entry incorporates text from “Olaudah Equiano” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.