by Rachel Ogbu//

Olaudah Equiano was born an Igbo around 1745 before it became eastern Nigeria. In 1789 he published his autobiography, “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African”, this has provided generations with one of the few first-hand African accounts of the details of contemporary African life and it became one of the best-selling books in Britain between 1789 and 1794. The frightening stories from the book were a catalyst in ending slavery.

The Irish Montserrat Reporter last month commemorated St Patrick’s Day, with a special emphasis on the 1768 abortive slave uprising of March 17, 1768.  It Reads: If St Patrick (born Maewyn Succa in 387 in Kilpatrick near Dumbarton, Scotland) could come back to visit with us, he would tell us that he understood the slaves. For, as a youth, much like Olaudah Equiano (who we should continue to remember too, as a distinguished Montserratian), he was himself kidnapped (he was from a prosperous home; his father was a local elder) by pirates into slavery in Ireland; when he was about sixteen years of age.

In Ireland, as a slave, he worked as a shepherd. It was a hard time, but (somewhat like the Prodigal son) he drew closer to God while in a far country of cruel exile, crying out to God up to a hundred times per day.

And strangely enough, if Olaudah Equiano could join the saint in talking with us, he would tell us that while he too was a slave torn from his family, captured in Nigeria, he also found God. This helped him work, study and save until he was able to buy his freedom. Yes, Equiano bought his freedom right here in Montserrat, in 1766; just a short while before the uprising.  Surely, that example must have spread like wild fire among the slaves here at that time.”

Last year, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a series about Britain’s Black past. In the fifth programme, Professor Gretchen Gerzina explored the life of the best-known black person in 18th century Britain, Olaudah Equiano. Equiano lived at 13 Tottenham Street in 1788 and then in 1789 at 73 Riding House Street (previously 10 Union Street) where he wrote his autobiography.

Equiano was a prominent member of the ‘Sons of Africa’, a group of 12 Black men who campaigned for abolition-  he lobbied Parliament for better conditions on slave ships. According to The Weekly Challenger, Equiano was a friend of Granville Sharp and brought issues of injustices and grievances to Sharp’s attention. In 1783 he alerted Sharp to the infamous Zong case, where 130 Africans had been drowned, thrown overboard from a Liverpool slave shop.

Today a green plaque marks the site of his Riding House Street home. He is also featured in a mural on the side of the Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Centre in Goodge Place.

Rachel Ogbu

UK Based Strategic, multidisciplinary Writer with an eye for innovation and pixel perfection. MA in New Media and Internet Technologies. “Although my skill set is vast, my greatest expertise revolve in the worlds of social media, content creation and print collateral. My wish is to combine my knowledge and experience in these areas, to deliver the best creative to my employer’s clients and their audiences.”