Sujet

'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African', 1789. Creator: Unknown.

Légende

Title page and frontispiece from the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano (also known as Gustavus Vassa, c. 1745-1797). Enslaved as a child in the Eboe (Igbo) region of the Kingdom of Benin in Africa, Equiano was taken to the Caribbean and sold to a Royal Navy officer. He was sold twice more but purchased his freedom in 1766. As a freedman in London, Equiano supported the British abolitionist movement and was a member of the Sons of Africa, an abolitionist group composed of Africans living in Britain. Originally published in 1789, his book went through nine editions in his lifetime and helped gain passage of the British Slave Trade Act 1807, which abolished the slave trade. In 1792 Equiano married Susannah Cullen, an English woman, and they had two daughters. The book has a brown leather cover with gold colored lettering. A paper dust jacket with "Gustavus Vassa" on the front surrounds the leather cover. There are inscriptions on the front pastedown endpaper and the front endpaper. The book has 294 pages.

Crédit

Photo12/Heritage Images/Heritage Art

Notre référence

HRM21A78_133

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

89,0Mo (3,1Mo) / 53,8cm x 41,5cm / 6349 x 4898 (300dpi)

Mots clés

Africa people Michael Jacob Vassa Gustavus black male job man men arts country trade book guy occupation continent British museum color African design location century Britain profession literature concept African American African-American Afro-Caribbean afro-american slavery sailor merchant emancipation writer title page United States of America Colour author graphic design 18th century abolitionist Eighteenth Century heritage American America USA abolition autobiography biography frontispiece portrait united states Unknown Equiano Olaudah Gustavus Vassa Michael FREEDMAN Jacob cultural heritage Black History Heritage Art emancipated National Museum of African American History and Culture NMAAHC books ink on paper leather narratives Olaudah Equiano