404 Equiano, Olaudah
at work, the collective mind of society grows to an
understanding that helps us all.
Nowhere in “Self-Reliance” does Emerson offer
an easy life as a viable pursuit. A fulfilled life is a
struggle, he says. Work benefits both the individual
and society as a whole since it comes from nature,
but it is also difficult. He writes: “A foolish consis-
tency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adorned by
little statesmen and philosophers and diviners. With
consistency, a great soul has simply nothing to do.
He may as well concern himself with his shadow
on the wall.”
Emerson is not in favor of shadows or an
incomplete life. The full experience of life can only
be achieved by true work, inspired by nature as a
means of improving the minds of all mankind. The
payment, in the truest sense, is spiritual, and that
elevated sense of individual spirit is what makes us
all truly self-reliant.
Patricia Brugman
EQUIANO, OLAUDAH The Interest-
ing Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equi-
ano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written
by Himself (1789)
Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative of his life,
one of the first widely read slave narratives, was
first published in 1789. Equiano (ca. 1745–97) was
well-known to his audience of American and Euro-
pean abolitionists at the time his narrative was first
published. By 1794, the Interesting Narrative was
so popular that it had gone through nine editions.
Unique because it is the only slave narrative that
gives a detailed first-person account of a slave’s life
in Africa before being taken to America, the Inter-
esting Narrative became a prototype for works used
by abolitionists in the fight against slavery. Equiano
successfully used his Narrative to influence British
politicians debating the slave trade in Parliament.
His involvement in the British debate helped per-
suade lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through
the Slave Trade Act of 1807.
Equiano’s narrative gives an account of his
enslavement, escape, and eventual freedom. By his
own account, he was born in 1745 in the village of
Essaka (now in modern-day Nigeria, West Africa).
Kidnapped at age 11 along with his sister, Equiano
was sold into slavery during the mid-1750s. He was
enslaved in Africa for a short time but was then
sold to British traders who shipped him to the West
Indies. Shortly thereafter, he was transported to a
plantation in Virginia, only to be resold to a Brit-
ish naval officer, Michael Pascal. Pascal brought
Equiano to London and renamed him Gustavus
Vassa. Equiano served in the Royal Navy during the
Seven Years’ War. Dishonoring his promise to free
Equiano at the end of the war, Pascal resold him into
West Indian slavery.
In 1766, Equiano purchased his freedom and
became independent. From being a slave, he became
the wealthiest African-descended man in Britain. In
1792, he married an English woman by the name of
Susannah Cullen, with whom he had two daughters
named Anna Maria and Joanna. On her 21st birth-
day in the year 1816, Joanna inherited Equiano’s
estate, the equivalent of $120,000 today. Olaudah
Equiano’s publications catapulted him into a life
of wealth and prestige. He acquired more fame and
fortune than any of his African contemporaries dur-
ing the 18th century.
Kelli RandallFreedOm in The Interesting Narrative of the
Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the
African. Written by Himself
Olaudah Equiano opens his Interesting Narrative by
describing the freedom he enjoyed as a young boy in
Africa. Equiano was born free. His opening narra-
tion illustrates that freedom was a natural and innate
state of being for him as a boy, but unfortunately, he
was captured and enslaved in Africa at age 11. Thus,
his status throughout the Narrative goes from free
to enslaved to free. There are two primary variations
of freedom throughout the Narrative: physical and
spiritual. The two are inextricably connected, and
as a result, these two forms of freedom cannot be
separated.
In the Interesting Narrative, Equiano serves in
the navy during the Seven Years’ War under his mas-
ter, the British navy officer Michael Pascal. Though
Pascal has promised to free Equiano at the conclu-
sion of the war in 1762, he goes back on his word.
He does not free Equiano, but instead sells him back