Ex-BBC Archivist Resurrects the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Child Slave, Naval Warrior, Abolitionist and Father of Black Literature!

Laurie Sheehan, an Archivist who worked for the BBC World Service, took a three-month sabbatical in order to research and write The Slave Boy" a detailed and fascinating account of Equianos life.

(PRWEB) January 31, 2004 --The Life of Olaudah Equiano is well documented and many know him as the Father of Black Literature and fighter for the freedom of Black Africans and the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. However, Olaudah Equiano had a fascinating existence prior to this title he gained later in life. Olaudah means favoured one" and through his book The Slave Boy, The Life of Olaudah Equiano" Laurie Sheehan certainly lays out the many reasons why we have come to understand that this was a very fateful choice of name for the man who went from son of an African chief to child slave to maritime warrior to Polar explorer to Father of Black Literature and freedom protester in one very short lifetime.

Laurie Sheehan, an Archivist who worked for the BBC World Service, took a three-month sabbatical in order to research and write The Slave Boy" a detailed and fascinating account of Equianos life beginning when at the age of ten, he was snatched whilst playing with his sister in the idyllic setting of the grounds of his home in Essaka in Africa.     Sold into slavery, he endured the torturous Middle Passage", packed along with other captives in the cargo hold of a ship to Barbados where he was sold to a Naval Officer who renamed him Gustavus Vassa. He spent years as a slave serving in the Navy in several wars against France, North America and Canada and the Caribbean. During this time it was normal to teach Blacks who served in the Navy to read and write and he was therefore fortunate to be schooled in-between wars. After six long years of fighting aboard ship, he was sold onto a Quaker who trained him as a gauger - someone who gauges weights and measures - a position he was able to exploit in order to save enough money to buy his freedom at the age of twenty-one.

Equiano embarked on voyages of exploration with Horatio Nelson and John Phipps across India to the North Pole and as a born-again" Christian took his message of God to South America and the Caribbean whilst also working with Wilberforce and the abolitionists to end the slave trade. Proudly regarding himself as the ambassador of millions of maltreated Africans, he wrote his account of slavery The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano", which made an enormous impact on the public and was influential in putting an end to this shameful chapter of British history.

This is a harrowing and emotional story, which Laurie Sheehan exquisitely brings to life in some detail as he describes some of the most fantastic adventures, strongest emotions and also the worst cruelties that Olaudah had seen in his life and felt compelled to write in his own narrative in order to ensure that it was not forgotten.

As well as meaning favoured one", Olaudah also means, Loud voiced one" and his story continues to speak loudly on behalf of the fate of the many thousands of Blacks who suffered during his time. Laurie Sheehans extensive research for the book took him to Dr Catherine Obianuju Acholonu who, after much research believes that the Igbo (Eboe?) town of Isseke (Essaka?) in Nigeria is Equianos birthplace. She recently met a family there named Ekwealuo (Equiano?) and she recalls one member of this family, a shy smiling boy named Nwabueze Ekwealuo who bore a striking resemblance to The Slave Boy".

Based on thorough research, this book is a well-deserved tribute to a remarkable man who worked to the limits of his abilities to end a great evil. Poignant, heart-rending and illuminating" - Historical Novels Review

The Life of Olaudah Equiano is curriculum-linked both in the United States (Grade 8) and in Britain (History key stage 3 and Universities: The Enlightenment)
The Slave Boy, The Life of Olaudah Equiano
ISBN -- 0-9542960-2-8
346 pages
RRP $18.00 (linked to exchange rate)