Olaudah Equiano

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OE wrote, and published in 1789, the earliest known autobiography by a Black person. This book pioneered the genre of the slave narrative, and increased Equiano's opportunities for publishing other writing (public letters, petitions, and book reviews) in the abolitionist cause.
  • BirthName: Olaudah Equiano
  • Self-constructed: Gustavus Vassa
  • Pseudonym: Aethiopianus
    His given name, he says, foretold good fortune.
    Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Editor Costanzo, Angelo, Broadview, 2001.
    55

Milestones

About 1745

According to his own account, OE , Black writer in English, was born in the Kingdom of Benin (probably the region of present-day Nigeria, not the country of that name); some recent scholars argue that, as his baptism record and a later ship's muster roll indicate, he was born about this year in the colony of (South) Carolina.
After he published his autobiography relating his early years in Benin, the rumour that he might after all have been not a native of Africa was potentially damaging to his credibility, including the ways in which slavery and the slave trade had been represented in his book.
Byrd, Alexander X. Eboe, Nation, and Gustavus Vassa’s Interesting Narrative. No. 1, The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 2006, pp. 123-48.
124
Costanzo, Angelo, editor. “Appendix A: Letters and Reviews”. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Broadview Press, 2001, pp. 255-6.
256-7
Scholar Vincent Carretta has argued, most fully in his biography of 2005, that Equiano was actually born in America and that his account of his African childhood is fictional.
Equiano, Olaudah. “Introduction, etc”. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, edited by Angelo Costanzo, Peterborough, ON, 2001, pp. 7-37.
11
Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Editor Costanzo, Angelo, Broadview, 2001.
46
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

24 March 1789

OE registered with the Stationers' Company his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, published by subscription for the Author (that is at his own risk), which launched the new genre of slave narrative.
It was Arna Bontemps , one of the Harlem Renaissance poets, who originated the classification of slave narrative.
Equiano, Olaudah. “Introduction, etc”. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, edited by Angelo Costanzo, Peterborough, ON, 2001, pp. 7-37.
7
Carretta, Vincent. Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self–made Man. University of Georgia Press, 2005.
277
Equiano, Olaudah. “Introduction, etc”. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, edited by Angelo Costanzo, Peterborough, ON, 2001, pp. 7-37.
11, 7

31 March 1797

OE , African-American writer in English, died at his London home, in Paddington Street, Marylebone.
Equiano, Olaudah. “Introduction, etc”. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, edited by Angelo Costanzo, Peterborough, ON, 2001, pp. 7-37.
36
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Biography

Birth, the True Story

About 1745

According to his own account, OE , Black writer in English, was born in the Kingdom of Benin (probably the region of present-day Nigeria, not the country of that name); some recent scholars argue that, as his baptism record and a later ship's muster roll indicate, he was born about this year in the colony of (South) Carolina.
After he published his autobiography relating his early years in Benin, the rumour that he might after all have been not a native of Africa was potentially damaging to his credibility, including the ways in which slavery and the slave trade had been represented in his book.
Byrd, Alexander X. Eboe, Nation, and Gustavus Vassa’s Interesting Narrative. No. 1, The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 2006, pp. 123-48.
124
Costanzo, Angelo, editor. “Appendix A: Letters and Reviews”. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Broadview Press, 2001, pp. 255-6.
256-7
Scholar Vincent Carretta has argued, most fully in his biography of 2005, that Equiano was actually born in America and that his account of his African childhood is fictional.
Equiano, Olaudah. “Introduction, etc”. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, edited by Angelo Costanzo, Peterborough, ON, 2001, pp. 7-37.
11
Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Editor Costanzo, Angelo, Broadview, 2001.
46
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

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