What is Olaudah Equiano?
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}} {{Infobox person |name = Olaudah Equiano |image =Olaudah Equiano - Project Gutenberg eText 15399.png |birth_date = 1745 |birth_place = Essaka, [[Benin Empire]] (claimed) |death_date = 31 March 1797 (aged 51-52) |death_place=Westminster, London |other_names = Gustavus Vassa, Graves |known_for =Influence over British abolitionists; [[The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano|his autobiography]] |occupation = Explorer, writer, merchant, slave, abolitionist |spouse =[[Susannah Cullen]] |children =[[Joanna Vassa]] and Anna Maria Vassa }} '''Olaudah Equiano''' (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797)<ref name=BBC20061031>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/equiano_olaudah.shtml |title=Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 - 31 March 1797) |publisher=BBC History}}</ref> also known as '''Gustavus Vassa or Graves''', was an important African involved in the British movement for the [[abolitionism|abolition of the slave trade]]. He was made a [[slave]] when he was a child but was later able to buy his freedom. He worked as an [[author]], [[merchant]], and [[explorer]] in [[South America]], the [[Caribbean]], the [[Arctic]], the [[Thirteen Colonies|American colonies]], and the [[United Kingdom]], where he settled by 1792. In his [[autobiography]], ''[[The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano]]'', he wrote about the horrors of slavery. This influenced the passing of the [[Slave Trade Act of 1807]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Equiano|first=Olaudah|title=The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofolaudahequ00equi|year=1999|publisher=Dover Publications|location=Mineola, N.Y.|isbn=0-486-40661-X}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} {{bio-stub}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Equiano, Olaudah}} [[Category:1745 births]] [[Category:1797 deaths]] [[Category:Abolitionists]] [[Category:Slaves]] [[Category:Nigerian writers]] [[Category:Explorers]] [[Category:British autobiographers]]