Equiano's autobiography traces his kidnapping as a boy in what is now Nigeria, the Middle Passage, enslavement in the Caribbean and service at sea, his purchase of his own freedom in 1766, and his later travels and work in England. One of the earliest published works by an African author in English, it gave British readers a firsthand indictment of the slave trade and became a bestseller in the abolitionist cause, running through nine editions in his lifetime.
Author: Olaudah Equiano (Gustavus Vassa) ยท Original publisher: Published by the author, London, 1789 (full title: *The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself*)
