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Olaudah Equiano ('Gustavus Vassa')

(circa 1745-1797), Writer and slavery abolitionist

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Artist associated with 1 portrait
Olaudah Equiano was born in Essaka, in what is now southeastern Nigeria. He was kidnapped into slavery at the age of eleven and put to work for a number of different masters in America, the West Indies and Europe. It was while in the Americas that Equiano developed his skills as an entrepreneur, using his many voyages to turn a profit on goods he carried with him and resold. Such financial dealings eventually enabled him to purchase his own freedom in 1766, and he returned to Britain of his own will. In the 1780s he emerged as the most prominent spokesman for the black community living in London. His autobiographical Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, which makes a strong case for the inhumanity of slavery, was published in 1789. This was an important contribution towards the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

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Olaudah Equiano ('Gustavus Vassa'), by Daniel Orme, published by  Olaudah Equiano ('Gustavus Vassa'), after  W. Denton - NPG D8546

Olaudah Equiano ('Gustavus Vassa')

by Daniel Orme, published by Olaudah Equiano ('Gustavus Vassa'), after W. Denton
stipple engraving, published 1 March 1789
On display in Room 12 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG D8546

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