07.11_Brandon Larkins_Writer Olaudah Equiano

#OTD Author and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, who wrote about his experience as a slave and journey from Africa through the middle passage, purchased his freedom. Actor Brandon Larkins narrates.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi amactor Brandon Larkins this day in Quistory, July eleventh,
seventeen sixty six. Olauda Equiana, a slaven abolitionist who wrote
about his experience traveling from Africa to the United States
on the Middle Passage, purchased his freedom. Born in Nigeria,
in seventeen forty five, Equiano freed himself from his last owner,
Robert King, a quaker from Philadelphia. Equiano moved to the

(00:24):
West Indies, where he found work in the trade business,
prior to moving to England, where he became an active abolitionist.
In seventeen eighty nine, Equiano's autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of
the Life of O Lauda Equiano or Gustavus Vasa the African,
was published. The Equiano Society was formed in London in
nineteen ninety six to honor his life's work, and in

(00:45):
two thousand and seven, Equiano's achievements were included in Britain's
national curriculum.