Olaudah Equiano, enslaved person and writer dies

Olaudah Equino was born in the region that is now known as Nigeria in 1945. At the age of 15, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The slave trade took him to places such as South America, the Caribbean islands and the West Indies. He later managed to buy his freedom and settled in the United Kingdom. One of his slave masters had taught Equaino to write fluently, a skill he put to good use when he wrote his autobiography:The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. The book surprised and impressed many with its detailed accounts of slave suffering and humiliation and saw many get involved in the movement for the abolition of slavery. Equiano’s African origins remain a contested issue as there have been indications that he was born in South Carolina in the US. It is believed that he may have embellished his autobiography to make it even more compelling.