Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano is believed to have died of natural causes in 1797.

During the course of his capture and enslavement, Equiano was placed in various dangerous situations in which he was frightened of dying. However, the horror of his experiences often made death seem...

Olaudah Equiano describes the ship's hold as unbearably stench-filled and suffocating, with captives packed so tightly they can barely move, leading to sickness and death. He recounts the oppressive...

Equiano attributes the ship's illness to the traders' "improvident avarice" because their short-sighted greed led them to overcrowd the ships with slaves, creating unsanitary and suffocating...

The talking book is a powerful metaphor for the power of literacy.

If Olaudah Equiano was born in South Carolina rather than Africa, it challenges the memoir’s reliability as an autobiographical account but not its significance in depicting the horrors of slavery....

Equiano survived the horrific voyage from the Bight of Biafra to Barbados largely due to the coercive measures taken by the crew. After fainting from shock, he was revived with forced alcohol and...

Equiano hoped that his narrative would end slavery in the Atlantic world.

Although written during the Enlightenment period, Oludah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oludah Equiano encompasses both Enlightenment and Romantic ideas in its call for social...