The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, first published in 1789 in London,[1] is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), an African from what is now Nigeria who was enslaved in childhood and eventually earned his freedom and became an abolitionist in the United Kingdom.

[2] The book describes Equiano's time spent in enslavement, and keeps track of his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible, and his success in the end in gaining his own freedom and in business thereafter.

Before Chapter 1, Equiano writes: "An invidious falsehood having appeared in the Oracle of the 25th, and the Star of the 27th of April 1792, with a view, to hurt my character, and to discredit and prevent the sale of my Narrative.

To combat these accusations, Equiano includes a set of letters written by white people who "knew me when I first arrived in England and could speak no language but that of Africa.

The people of Eboe believed in one "Creator", who lived in the sun and was in charge of major occurrences: life, death, and war.

"[4] Equiano explains how he and his sister were kidnapped and forced to travel with their captors for a time until the two children were separated.

He points out the "closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate added to the number in the ship" suffocates them; some slaves even preferred to drown, and one was saved only to be flogged later, as he had chosen to die rather than accept slavery.

The author mentions the impact of their selling away, as "on the signal given, (as the beat of a drum), the buyers rush at once into the yard where they are confined, and make the choice of that parcel they like best.

One day, a man called Michael Henry Pascal, comes to the Master's house, wanting to purchase Equiano.

[1] In mid-May, Equiano is summoned by Captain Doran and told he had been sold to a new Master called Robert King.

While working for King, Equiano sees clerks and other white men rape women, which makes him angry, because he can do nothing about it.

During this time, Equiano started working as a sailor and selling and trading items like gin and tumblers.

Equiano explains that he has no plans to escape, and that if he had wanted to run away, he would have done it by now, given all the freedom the Master and the captain give him.

[1] When they get to Philadelphia, Equiano goes to sell what his Master gave him and talks to Mrs. Davis, a wise woman who reveals secrets and foretells events.

The ship continues on to Georgia and, while they are there, Doctor Perkins beats Equiano and leaves him lying on the ground, unable to move.

Equiano writes, "had it pleased Providence, that he [the captain] had died about five months before, I verily believe I should not have obtained my freedom when I did."

Before leaving for the island, Equiano comes across a black woman who needed a church burial service for her child.

[1] Chapter 9 describes Equiano's many journeys, including one to the North Pole with the scientist Doctor Irving, the inventor of a way to distil fresh drinking water.

"[1] Originally published in 1789, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, played a large role in "[altering] public opinion" towards the debate over abolition in Britain.

His claims of being born in Eboe (now southern Nigeria) and being captured and traded as a child gave him definite credibility.

"[10] Paul Edwards edited The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, in 1967 and sparked further debate about the validity of the story's origins.

[14] Carretta believes his findings indicate Equiano had borrowed his account of Africa from others, and said the timing of the publication was not an accident.

[15] Carretta noted "the revelation that Gustavus Vassa was a native-born Igbo originally named Olaudah Equiano appears to have evolved during 1788 in response to the needs of the abolitionist movement.

[15]"Equiano's fellow abolitionists were calling for precisely the kind of account of Africa and the Middle Passage that he supplied.

Equiano's autobiography corroborated and even explicitly drew upon earlier reports of Africa and the Middle Passage by some white observers, and challenged those of others.

[17] Lovejoy believes Vassa's description of his country and his people is sufficient confirmation that he was born where he said he was, and based on when boys received the ichi scarification, that he was about 11 when he was kidnapped, as he claims, which suggests a birth date of about 1742, not 1745 or 1747.

Lovejoy goes on to say:[18]"If Carretta is correct about Vassa's age at the time of baptism, accepting the documentary evidence, then he was too young to have created a complex fraud about origins.

Lovejoy also believes Equiano's godparents, the Guerins and Pascals, wanted the public to think that Vassa was a creole instead of being a fully Black man born in Africa.

He claims that this was because the perceived higher status of Creoles in West Indian society and Equiano's mastery of English.

But to have it off by five years, as Lovejoy contends, would place Equiano well into puberty at the age of 17, when he would have been far more likely to have had a say in, and later remembered, what was recorded.