Voices of the Enslaved: Equiano and Other Witnesses

Some of the most powerful arguments against slavery came from people who had been enslaved themselves. Olaudah Equiano's autobiography, The Interesting Narrative, published in London in 1789, described capture in Africa, the Middle Passage and life in slavery, and became a bestseller that supported the abolition campaign. Ottobah Cugoano's Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery (1787) made a direct moral case for abolition, and the poet Phillis Wheatley's work (1773) challenged claims that Africans lacked intellectual ability.

Historians weigh these texts carefully. Scholar Vincent Carretta found baptismal and naval records listing Equiano's birthplace as South Carolina, raising questions about his account of an African childhood, while other historians argue that his description draws on genuine African memories or testimony. Either way, the narratives show enslaved and formerly enslaved people acting as authors and campaigners, not merely as subjects of others' sympathy.