![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() This abolitionist-supported venture would create the West African nation of Sierra Leone. In 1787 Equiano became the first person of African ancestry to hold a post in the British Government when he was appointed to the post of Commissary for Stores to the Expedition for Freed Slaves. Equiano presented one of the first petitions to the British Parliament calling for the abolition of slavery. He settled in England, befriended Granville Sharp, the first prominent British abolitionist, and soon became a leader of the emerging anti-slavery movement. These global experiences within the Atlantic Slave Trade allowed Equiano to produce the most popular and vivid slave narrative of his era.īy 1777 at the age of 32, Equiano, after having mastered reading, writing and arithmetic, purchased his freedom. ![]() While a slave to the naval officer Equiano traveled between four continents. Equiano, given the name Gustavus Vassa by one of his many owners, was forced to serve several masters, among them a Virginia plantation owner, a British Naval officer, and a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania merchant. At the age of 11 years, Olaudah was captured by African slave traders and sold into bondage in the New World. Olaudah Equiano, whose father was an Ibo chief, was born in 1745 in what is now Southern Nigeria. ![]()
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