TEMPO.CO, Jakarta- Google celebrates what would be the 272nd birthday of Olaudah Equiano, a former slave turned abolitionist whose memoir defined a literary genre and fueled a movement that ultimately ended slavery in the United Kingdom.
Equiano’s 1789 work, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, follows his life from being kidnapped at the age of 11 in Eboe province in southern Nigeria and sold into slavery. He crosses the dangerous Middle Passage multiple times, first as a slave being transported to Barbados and then Virginia, and then as deckhand and valet.
While serving an officer of the Royal Navy, Equiano who was renamed Gustavus Vassa after a 16th century Swedish king, converted to Christianity and learned to read and write. Equiano was bought and sold several more times before arriving on a merchant ship where he was able to save money and buy his own freedom. In London, he joined the “Sons of Africa” abolition group, published his memoir, and became a leading figure in the anti-slavery movement.
In 1792, Equiano married a British woman, Susanna Cullen, and they had two daughters. Equiano died on March 31, 1797. Google Doodle commemorates the 272th birth of Equiano on October 16th.
Olaudah Equiano is credited for jumpstarting the genre later known as the slave narrative, prominent mostly in the 19th century as abolition movements gained traction. Equiano’s memoir was immensely popular: between 1798 and 1827, it was reprinted in at least 17 editions.
GOOGLE DOODLE | BBC | ERWIN Z