Contribution to the Abolition of Slavery
Here is the link to the video - http://s1315.photobucket.com/user/EzraEy/media/OloudahEquiano-Contributiontotheabolitionofslavery-History_zpsfe153eea.mp4.html. It may or may not take a bit of time to buffer
Hello I am Ezra and you are watching Quick Talks. Today I shall be talking about Olaudah Equiano, or as he was otherwise known, Gustavas Vassa, and his campaign for the abolition of slavery.
If you didn’t already know it, Equiano was a slave. He was captured with his sister at the age of ten and sold into slavery. He first went to the West Indies before going to England with Henry Pascal where he learnt how to read and write. Afterwards he was sold again and taken back to the West Indies. Then in 1966, at the age of 21 he bought his freedom for a total amount of £40. Doesn’t seem like much does it? But that is because £40 back then is equivalent roughly £6000. After his freedom was purchased he did a variety of other things, such as a job as a hairdresser and an Arctic expedition, until he decided to campaign against slavery.
Now, Olaudah Equiano’s campaign for the abolition of slavery truly began in 1786 when he formed the ‘Sons of Africa’ which was a group of 12 African men who campaigned for abolition through public speaking, letters and lobbying of the government.
In1788, Equiano led a group of representatives to the House of Commons in support of a bill that was said to improve conditions on slave ships by limiting the number of slaves that were allowed on them. The person who made it, William Dolben was the British MP for Northamptonshire and a dedicated abolitionist. In a way this was Equiano’s first big step towards the abolition of the slave trade. It had shown that people were willing to take steps in bettering conditions of slaves or hopefully getting rid of slavery altogether.
However, the most influential action that Equiano did was in 1789 when he published his book entitled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. It essentially is the story of his life from when he was young up to the point of creation. He realised that his own life story would be a powerful argument so he set out to get it published. It starts with a petition to parliament and concludes with an anti-slavery letter to the queen.
Almost as important as the book itself was the promotion process of said book. Because really, if you published something back in those days, without promotion no one would even hear about it. So Equiano went throughout the whole of Britain selling and gaining popularity for his book. In the end tens of thousands of people read his book and they began to see slavery through the perspective of an African. This greatly helped in the drive for the complete and total abolition of slavery.
Sadly, Equiano died on the 31st March 1797, a decade before slavery was completely abolished in Britain. Thus he didn’t get to see his dream come true in his lifetime, however his contributions helped the people of the future live in a world without slavery.
This has been Quick Talks with Ezra and I hope you have a good rest of the day and I’ll talk to you guys next time.
If you didn’t already know it, Equiano was a slave. He was captured with his sister at the age of ten and sold into slavery. He first went to the West Indies before going to England with Henry Pascal where he learnt how to read and write. Afterwards he was sold again and taken back to the West Indies. Then in 1966, at the age of 21 he bought his freedom for a total amount of £40. Doesn’t seem like much does it? But that is because £40 back then is equivalent roughly £6000. After his freedom was purchased he did a variety of other things, such as a job as a hairdresser and an Arctic expedition, until he decided to campaign against slavery.
Now, Olaudah Equiano’s campaign for the abolition of slavery truly began in 1786 when he formed the ‘Sons of Africa’ which was a group of 12 African men who campaigned for abolition through public speaking, letters and lobbying of the government.
In1788, Equiano led a group of representatives to the House of Commons in support of a bill that was said to improve conditions on slave ships by limiting the number of slaves that were allowed on them. The person who made it, William Dolben was the British MP for Northamptonshire and a dedicated abolitionist. In a way this was Equiano’s first big step towards the abolition of the slave trade. It had shown that people were willing to take steps in bettering conditions of slaves or hopefully getting rid of slavery altogether.
However, the most influential action that Equiano did was in 1789 when he published his book entitled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. It essentially is the story of his life from when he was young up to the point of creation. He realised that his own life story would be a powerful argument so he set out to get it published. It starts with a petition to parliament and concludes with an anti-slavery letter to the queen.
Almost as important as the book itself was the promotion process of said book. Because really, if you published something back in those days, without promotion no one would even hear about it. So Equiano went throughout the whole of Britain selling and gaining popularity for his book. In the end tens of thousands of people read his book and they began to see slavery through the perspective of an African. This greatly helped in the drive for the complete and total abolition of slavery.
Sadly, Equiano died on the 31st March 1797, a decade before slavery was completely abolished in Britain. Thus he didn’t get to see his dream come true in his lifetime, however his contributions helped the people of the future live in a world without slavery.
This has been Quick Talks with Ezra and I hope you have a good rest of the day and I’ll talk to you guys next time.