03 - The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Chapter 3
‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano‘

Olaudah EQUIANO (1745 - 1797)
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789, is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano. It discusses his time spent in slavery, serving primarily on galleys, documents his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible, and his eventual success in gaining his own freedom and in business thereafter.

The book contains an interesting discussion of slavery in West Africa and illustrates how the experience differs from the dehumanising slavery of the Americas. The Intereresting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is also one of the first widely read slave narratives.