Olaudah Equiano Publishes The Interesting Narrative

Olaudah Equiano published The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano in London in 1789. It was the first widely read autobiography by an enslaved African, describing his capture in what is now Nigeria, the Middle Passage, enslavement in the Caribbean and Virginia, self-purchase, and life as a free man in London. It went through nine editions before 1794. Equiano personally lobbied Parliament and was a central figure in the British abolitionist movement; the book directly influenced