Cover: Standard Ebooks edition cover · CC0 public domain dedication · source
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself.
Olaudah Equiano · c. 1745–1797
By his own account kidnapped as a child from his Igbo village, Equiano survived the Middle Passage and enslavement, educated himself, traded his way to freedom and became one of the leading voices against the slave trade. A testimony of a mind that refused to be owned.
- First published
- 1789
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Reading time
- About 6 hours
- Translation
- Written in English
Reading time: 82,728 words in Project Gutenberg text #15399, read at 238 words per minute.
London, 1789, published by the author. Equiano revised the text across nine editions.
- freedom
- testimony
- faith
- self-education
- dignity
Where to read it
- Read free — Standard EbooksPublic domain text, carefully proofread and produced. · checked 11 Oct 2026(opens in a new tab)
- Read free — Project GutenbergPublic domain in the USA; check your local law outside it. · checked 11 Oct 2026(opens in a new tab)
Copyright
- Kenya
- Public domain
- United States
- Public domain
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Questions for discussion
Equiano was a skilled trader. How does his relationship with money compare with Wattles's?
Why might he have written 'by himself' into the title?
Some historians question parts of his account of his birth. Does that change how we should read the book?
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