Equiano’s account was one of the first widely read “slave narratives” (as the genre came to be called a sub-genre of general “captivity literature” that became prevalent with colonization). The British anti-slavery movement held a deep irony: during the 18th century, the British perfected the Atlantic trade slave system only to be the first to struggle to bring the practice to an end throughout their Empire (this happened, eventually, by 1833 and after a series of slave revolts). Not only this, but it is a beautifully written memoir that contains an ardent appeal to end slavery made to an audience comprised of the growing number of Britons then calling for abolition.
Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography is the first direct account, written by a slave, of the experience of the middle passage in English.
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