The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, Vol 1. (1789)

Derek Bright
Nov 27, 2017
ENGL363
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, Vol 1. (1789)
The slave trade is one of the historical events documented by many authors to reflect the reality faced by Africans. Olaudan Equiano's autobiography is widely admired for his detailed account of the slave trade from a personal perspective. His writings are among the first slave narrative that has attracted many readerships revealing the brutal reality of the eighteenth-century western world from an individual experience. Several pieces of literature listed below, present different narratives and perspectives of slavery. Below is an annotated bibliography of different responses to the Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African.
1. Gunn, Jeffrey. “Literacy and the Humanizing Project in Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative and Ottobah Cugoano’s Thoughts and Sentiments”. University of Glasgow. (2007). 1-19 .
According to the article, literacy became the vehicle that enabled slaves to determine their self-image and have control over events while presenting their own accounts into history. According to the author, writing can portray the human side of Africans, especially when highlighting slavery. Olaudah Equiano presents the human side of African slaves, which contradicts the presentation of the slave trade as written by other authors of the time. Equiano’s narratives present the significant role played by many Africans in fighting for the abolition of the slave trade during the early days of America. This narrative is significant because it presents the human side of Africans that played a major role in convincing the British Empire to end slavery, making the narrative a powerful force in 1780. Olaudah Equiano challenges the sub-human status assigned to Africans by the British for instance, David Hume’s arguments regarding Africans as a separate species. According to the author, literary skills are important in addressing social issues. This is evident when Equiano uses his experience in literary form to challenge the negative attitude towards Africans, by providing the human side of Africans as people with significant intellectual capacity but not animals. Equiano presents a different perspective. Equiano’s narratives were meant to convince people to see the need to end slavery. In summary, the author provides insightful accounts of how Equaino narrative played a major political role in the abolition movement.
2. Layson, Hana & Tikoff, Valentina. Olaudah Equiano and the Eighteenth-Century Debate over Africa and the Slave Trade. Digital Collections for the Classroom Library. 2017.
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