Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano (c.1745 – 31 March 1797), also known as Gustavus Vassa, was an eighteenth century merchant seaman and writer of African descent who lived in Britain's American colonies and in Britain. He was a leading influence in the abolition of slavery.

Early life and slavery

By his own account, Olaudah Equiano's early life began in the region of Essaka (in his spelling; now Isseke) near the River Niger, an Igbo-speaking region of Nigeria, now in Anambra State. At an early age he was kidnapped by kinsmen and forced into domestic slavery in another native village in a region where the African chieftain hierarchy was tied to slavery.

At the age of eleven, he was sold on to white slave traders and taken to the New World, and upon arrival was bought by Michael Pascal, a captain in the Royal Navy. As many slave owners often did, Pascal renamed him and gave him the name of Gustavus Vassa. This practice was typical of slave owners as it was yet another way to show ownership of their slaves and take away their identity.

Being the slave of a naval captain, he was afforded naval training. Equiano was able to travel extensively and through those travels was sent to school in England by Pascal to learn to read which is quite generous of the slave owner. This was during the time of the Seven Years War with France. Equiano mostly served as Pascal's personal servant but was also expected to contribute in times of battle. His duty was to haul gunpowder to the gun decks. After the war, Equiano felt he had served his duty and was deserving of his share of the prize money awarded to the other sailors, along with his freedom. This did not happen.

Later, Olaudah Equiano was sold in the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean Leeward Islands. Equiano was already able to read and write English, and this, together with his seamanship skills, made him too valuable to be bought for plantation labour. He was acquired by Robert King, a Quaker merchant from Philadelphia who traded in the Caribbean. King set Equiano to work on his shipping routes and in his stores, promising him, in 1765, that he could one day buy his own freedom if he saved forty pounds, the price King had paid for Equiano. King taught him to read and write more fluently, educated him in the Christian faith, and allowed Equiano to engage in his own profitable trading as well as his master's behalf, enabling Equiano to come by the forty pounds honestly. In his early twenties, Equiano bought his own freedom.

King urged Equiano to stay on as a business parner, but Equiano found it dangerous and limiting to remain in the colonies as a freed black. While loading a ship in Georgia, he had been almost kidnapped back into slavery. Equiano returned to Britain, where slavery was much more limited.

In England he received his wages from the navy, but not from Pascal. He worked for a while as a hairdresser but the pay was not adequate ^{[citation needed]}, so he returned to working at sea.

Pioneer of the Abolitionist Cause

After several years of travels and trading, Equiano was moved to journey to London and become involved in the abolitionist movement. The movement was particularly strong amongst Quakers, but was by now non-denominational. Equiano himself was broadly Methodist, having been influenced by Whitefield's evangelism in the New World.

Olaudah Equiano proved to be a popular speaker, and was introduced to many senior and influential people who encouraged him to write and publish his life story. He was supported financially by philanthropic abolitionists and religious benefactors; his lectures and preparation for the book were promoted by, among others, Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. His account exceeded all expectations for the quality of its imagery and description as a literary style, as well as its profoundly shaming narrative towards those who had not joined the cause of slavery abolition. Entitled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African, it was first published in 1789 and rapidly went through several editions. It is one of the earliest known examples of published writing by an African writer. Its first-hand account of slavery and of the travels and experiences of an eighteenth century black immigrant in America and Britain had a profound impact.

This book not only furthered the abolitionist cause while providing an exemplary work of English literature by a new, African author, but also made Equiano's fortune. It gave him independence from his benefactors and enabled him to fully chart his own life and purpose, and develop his interest in working to improve economic, social and educational conditions in Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone.

Controversy of origin

Vincent Carretta, a professor of literature and author of Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man (2005), points out that a major problem facing any biographer is how to deal with Equiano's account of his origins.

As Carretta explains:

Equiano was certainly African by descent. The circumstantial evidence that Equiano was also African American by birth and African British by choice is compelling but not absolutely conclusive. Although the circumstantial evidence is not equivalent to proof, anyone dealing with Equiano's life and art must consider it.

This current doubt about his origins, arises from records that suggest Equiano may have been born in South Carolina. Carretta suggests that there are baptismal records and naval muster roll linking Equiano to South Carolina. Other academics have reported an oral history record of his upbringing, as he claimed, in Isske, Africa, principally based on Catherine Obianuju Acholonu's study: The Igbo Roots Of Olaudah Equiano: An Anthropological Research (1989). A more recent paper (June 2005) that favours Olaudah Equiano's own account of his African birth, is the Canadian academic study by Paul Lovejoy, Autobiography and Memory: Gustavus Vassa, alias Olaudah Equiano, the African.

Historians have never discredited the accuracy of Equiano's narrative, nor the power it had to support the abolitionist cause, particularly in Britain during the 1790s, but parts of Equiano's account of the Middle Passage may have been based on already published accounts or the experiences of those he knew. Also, he could have lied about his birthplace saying it was South Carolina to help himself at one time. It could have simply been a case of a language barrier.

Birth in colonial America or West Africa ?

1. Written Evidence:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Equiano's baptismal record at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, dated 9 February 1759, records that he was born in 'Carolina'; a Royal Navy muster roll from Constantine Phipp’s Arctic expedition of 1773 says that Equiano was born in 'South Carolina'. In both cases, the information almost certainly came from Equiano himself; there are no primary sources.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Equiano's own autobiography, 'The Interesting Narrative...' tells us that he was born in West Africa. This information also comes from Equiano himself.

2. Circumstantial Biographical Evidence:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Equiano gets the dates wrong about the ships in which he was brought from America to England which would be consistent with him having made this part of his story up. Equiano's account of his life is usually very accurate when it can be checked against independent or primary sources, making it surprising that his account of his first ten years can be shown to be inaccurate in parts. Equiano is not recorded as having used the name "Equiano" before publishing his autobiography. All his friends and acquaintances knew him by the name "Gustavus Vassa". He probably made up the name "Olaudah Equiano" as part of the careful construction of an African persona he carried out in 1789.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in West Africa - Although Equiano gets the dates wrong about the ships in which he was brought from America to England, he was a very young child at the time, and suffering a severe trauma, so it is reasonable to assume that his memory might sometimes be at fault. Equiano's account of his life is usually very accurate when it can be checked against independent sources, showing that it was his usual practice to tell the truth as far as he could remember. Although Equiano never used his birth name before 1789, this was not unusual. Few slaves or former slaves used their African names. Equiano's friend Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, for example, used his slave name of John Stuart throughout his life, except on the title page of his book (1787). "Gustavus Vassa" was not his birth name, even had he been born in colonial America, it was given to him later by a master.

3. Equiano's Motivation:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Equiano's main motivation was to end the slave trade, so he would write or say anything in his published work that he thought he could get away with, as long as it brought the abolition of the slave trade, and slavery itself, closer. Equiano had nothing to hide in his early life, so he told the truth about his birthplace to the church clerk at his baptism and to the naval officer who compiled the muster roll in which he gave his birthplace as South Carolina.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Equiano's main motivation was to end the slave trade, end slavery, and establish free settlements in West Africa, so he would be very careful to tell the truth in his published work and not write or say anything that might bring him or his campaign into disrepute. Equiano had been born in West Africa but now had to make the best of his new life and circumstances, and there was little point in making an issue about his origins, now that his life was in the 'New World' he gave this as his 'adopted' birthplace.

4. Close Reading of the Text:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Much of the early part of 'The Interesting Narrative...', in which Equiano describes West Africa and the Middle Passage, closely resembles similar accounts made by European or American authors, for example, by Anthony Benezet. Equiano probably invented his African childhood, and copied information out of books such as these. The parts of 'The Interesting Narrative...' that describe West Africa and the Middle Passage have a mythological style that makes them unreliable as history.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Much of the early part of 'The Interesting Narrative...', in which Equiano describes West Africa and the Middle Passage, closely resembles similar accounts made by European or American authors, for example, by Anthony Benezet, yet Equiano references many of these works, as would anyone giving a true account, having consulted them in order to help him remember the details of a distant childhood and out of genuine interest in the geography and social anthropology of his homeland. The parts of The Interesting Narrative...' that describe West Africa and the Middle Passage are strengthened by this example of thorough research and show that he took his work very seriously and wanted to write to a very high standard.

5. Contemporary Expectations:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Readers in the eighteenth century were not fools, and demanded the same high level of honesty and veracity that we would now expect. However, Equiano knew that it would be very difficult for his readers to check the truth, or otherwise, of his account. In the late eighteenth century, there were more poems, plays, and novels written against slavery than there were 'serious' political tracts. Readers would thus have been more interested in hearing general truths about slavery than particular histories, and so wouldn't have cared so much about whether the details of Equiano's story were true.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Readers in the eighteenth century were not fools, and demanded the same high level of honesty and veracity that we would now expect. Thus, Equiano would not have tried to get away with telling a lie about his African origins - somebody, somewhere, would have known the truth. In the late eighteenth century, there were more poems, plays, and novels written against slavery than there were 'serious' political tracts. Equiano would have known that, to be taken seriously, he had to appear as more than just a writer of fiction, but as someone who could write to a very high literary standard, and tell the whole truth.

6. The Realities of Equiano's Life:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - Even though Equiano was born in Carolina, he was a long way from home and, by the 1780s, could get away with saying anything he liked about his past, particularly since communications between England and America had been disrupted in the war of 1775-1783. When Equiano was asked for his place of birth during his childhood baptism, he may not have had at that time a sufficient mastery of the legal protocols or legalistic language to give the answer that is normally expected (for example, if he had been asked 'where are you from', he may have understood it as 'where have you recently come from'); however, if this was the case, there is no reason why, as an adult and a fluent English speaker, he would continue to say that he had been born in Carolina, as he later did when joining Constantine Phipp’s Arctic expedition of 1773.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - Despite the war, links between England and America were still close. Had he been lying, sooner or later someone in America would have detected his falsehood, particularly after his book was published in New York in 1791. Equiano knew that the most intensive search would be made by proslavery campaigners to discredit him. Therefore, he would not have attempted to invent a new identity and birthplace. When Equiano was asked for his place of birth during his childhood baptism, he may not have had at that time a sufficient mastery of the legal protocols or legalistic language to give the answer that is normally expected (for example, if he had been asked 'where are you from', he may have understood it as 'where have you recently come from'); and once the mistake was in writing on his baptismal record, he might have chosen to simply accept the error as unimportant.

7. Equiano's Psychological State:

• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Carolina - As a terrified and traumatised child, the young Equiano would have been too afraid to tell anything other than the truth when asked for his place of birth at his baptism ceremony.
• Support for the idea that Equiano was born in Africa - As a terrified and traumatised child, the young Equiano may have been too afraid to tell the truth when asked for his place of birth at his baptism ceremony. Many children, especially traumatised children, invent stories to explain their origins. Many such people come to terms with their trauma in later life. This might explain why Equiano tells one story when younger, and another when older.

Family in Britain

At some point, after having traveled widely, Olaudah Equiano appears to have decided to settle in Britain and raise a family. Equiano is closely associated with Soham, Cambridgeshire, where, on the 7 April 1792, he married Susannah Cullen, a local girl, in St Andrew's Church. He announced his wedding in every edition of his autobiography from 1792 onwards, and it has been suggested his marriage mirrored his anticipation of a commercial union between Africa and England. The couple settled in the area and had two daughters, Anna Maria , born 16th October 1793 and Joanna born 11th April 1795.

Susannah died in February 1796 aged 34, and Equiano died a year after that on 31 March 1797, aged c.52. Soon after, the elder daughter died aged four years old, leaving Joanna to inherit Equiano's estate which was valued at £950 — a considerable sum, worth approximately £100,000 today. Joanna married the Rev. Henry Bromley and they ran a Congregational Chapel at Clavering near Saffron Walden in Essex, before moving to London in the middle of the nineteenth century - they are both buried at the Congregationalists' novel non-denominational Abney Park Cemetery, in Stoke Newington.

Last days and will

Although Equiano's death is recorded in London, the location of his burial is unknown. One of his last London addresses appear to have been Plaisters Hall in the City of London (from where he drew up his will on 28 May 1796).

Having drawn up his will, Olaudah Equiano moved to John Street, Tottenham Court Road, close to Whitefield's Methodist chapel (where there is a small, recent memorial); and lastly Paddington Street, Middlesex where he died. His death was reported in newspaper obituaries at the time, but seems not to have been widely known. He may have moved frequently and left an unclear trail to his burial place, having held concerns for his own safety and to rest in peace, since sections of the political elite sought to suppress reformers and those linked to them in the 1790s, the time of the American and French Revolutions. In December 1797, unaware that he had died nine months earlier, the government sponsored Anti-Jacobin, or Weekly Examiner presumed him to still be alive, for it satirised him at a fictional meeting of the Friends of Freedom.

Olaudah Equiano's will demonstrates the sincerity of his religious and social beliefs. Had his daughter Joanna died before reaching the age of inheritance (twenty-one), his wealth would have passed, half to the Sierra Leona Company for the continued provision of help to West Africans, and half to the organisation formed the previous November at the Countess of Huntingdon's Connection Spa Fields Chapel. This was The Missionary Society, the organisation that by the early nineteenth century had become well known world-wide as a non-denominational, though largely Congregational, London Missionary Society promoting education overseas.

External links

• A SON OF AFRICA
• Works by Olaudah Equiano. Project Gutenberg
• Olaudah Equiano from BBC.co.uk
• Paul E. Lovejoy, 2005/06 Autobiography and Memory: Gustavus Vassa, allis Olandah Equiano, the African' - Where was Equiano born ?
• [1] Where was Equiano born?
• Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Olaudah Equiano - full access article
• soham.org.uk - including details of church records showing Equiano's marriage and deaths in the family.
• Africans in America - Olaudah Equiano
• Black Britain's political founding father - Olaudah Equiano
• "Unraveling the Narrative" by Jennifer Howard, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 9, 2005
• [2]Olaudah Equiano: A Critical Biography
• [3] Olaudah Equiano

References

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