Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Teaching Ideas – fact sheets
Fact Sheet 3 Olaudah Equiano
1745: Olaudah Equiano born in Isseke, Nigeria.
1756: Kidnapped by Aro peoples and is sold to various
masters within Africa. Then endures the Middle Passage
to Barbados and is sent to Virginia.
1757: Bought by British Naval Officer Michael Henry
Pascal and is named Gustavus Vassa. Takes first trip to
England.
1758-62: Serves the British navy during the Seven Years War (French and
Indian War).
1766: Through practicing his own trade on the side, Equiano acquires
enough money to buy his own freedom.
1772: Granville Sharp gets the Somerset decision, declaring that slavery
cannot exist in England and slaves setting foot there are free.
1774: Equiano tries unsuccessfully to save his friend John Annis from a
vengeful former master. Annis is tortured to death in the West Indies.
Equiano sails for Spain and has a vision of Christ. Methodist John Wesley
publishes Thoughts upon Slavery.
1781-90: Height of African slave trade: 88,800 Africans transported to New
World each year.
1783: Equiano informs abolitionist Granville Sharp of Zong massacre
(1781), which adds further emotional reactions to the anti-slavery
movement. American Quakers petition Congress to end slavery.
Massachusetts rules that slavery violates the state constitution's clause
that all men are "free and equal."
1787: Dismissed from Sierra Leone expedition. Helps organize Sons of
Africa in London. Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade formed in
England.
1788: Equiano presents antislavery petition to England's Queen Charlotte,
wife of King George III. Abolitionists petition British Parliament to end the
slave trade.
1789: Equiano publishes his Interesting Narrative. Britain "regulates," not
ends the slave trade. Baptists declare slavery inconsistent with
republicanism. The French Revolution begins.
1792: Marries Englishwoman Susan Cullen.
1797: Equiano dies in London.
MK EMASS
Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Teaching Ideas – fact sheets
Much of the information on this fact sheet comes from the following website:
http://www.princeton.edu/~howarth/304.Projects/Erera/Pages/Timeline.htm
Further information is available on these websites:
http://www.wmich.edu/dialogues/texts/equiano.html
http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/olaudah_equiano.html
http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/
EMASS has many resources about Equiano which can be borrowed free of
charge, including:
‘Equiano, the Slave Who fought to be Free’ by J Ozynski.
MK EMASS