“What makes any event important, unless by its observation we become better and wiser”, so said Olaudah Equiano at the close of his ‘Interesting Narrative’, words that pretty much sum up the spirit of enquiry that inspires us at Historycal Roots.
Our own Equiano journey of discovery started in the summer of 2018 when, prompted by Arthur Torrington of the Equiano Society, we visited the London Metropolitan Archives where we were able to examine the ledger that confirmed Equiano’s final resting place: http://historycalroots.com/olaudah-equiano
Arthur invited us to work on a project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and we were only too happy to oblige.
We were involved in the early stages of the discussions with the American International Church in London’s Tottenham Court Road, which stands on the site where Equiano was interred: http:/ /historycalroots.com/archives/1164
The project organised a number of events over the course of 2019, only a few of which we have been able to report on this site. There were talks by leading Equiano scholars. Professor Hakim Adi (pictured on the right below) helped us celebrate Equiano’s manumission day at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton: http://historycalroots.com/archives/1613 and Professor James Walvin (pictured on the left) gave a talk at the American International Church setting out the context of Equiano’s life both as an enslaved man and, having achieved his freedom, his role in the abolition of the trade in human cargo: http://historycalroots.com/archives/1700 .
Other highlights included a series of talks by Professor Vincent Carretta who had flown over from America especially for the events.
Our own contributions included Bill Hern’s research into the engraving used as the frontispiece of the ‘Interesting Narrative’: http://historycalroots.com/archives/1827 and our research into the Dutch Edition of the book: http://historycalroots.com/equianos-interesting-narrative-the-dutch-edition.
The Dutch Edition of 1790 was followed two years later by the German Edition, the publication of which was influenced by Friedrich Blumenbach, a Professor at Gottingen University and admirer of Equiano. Bill worked in collaboration with the University to find out more about the German version and the results of his research can be found here: http://historycalroots.com/equianos-interesting-narrative-the-german-edition.
Four versions of The Interesting Narrative were published in England between 1809 and 1816, we looked closely at the story behind the Leeds (1814) version and how it was used as a tool to support the anti-slavery movement. Bill’s work on the Leeds edition is here: http://historycalroots.com/equianos-interesting-narrative-the-leeds-edition.
We supported the touring exhibition when it was on display at the American International Church and then the Black Cultural Archives. Here are just two of the panels:
The hope is to produce a book including all of the panels featured in the exhibition, it would certainly make a handsome volume.
To bring things up to date we attended the project’s closing event at the Croydon Supplementary Education Project where copies of the new imprint of the ‘Interesting Narrative’ were presented to those who had supported the project.
Production of the book, a fine quality facsimile of the original, was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This event was just days before the coronavirus lockdown started so the book has given us something to read during the time of enforced isolation.
Alexander D’Great sang a version of his Equiano calypso to an enthusiastic audience: https://youtu.be/3vqjITRxJQg. Alex was a staunch supporter of the project throughout and you can find other songs by him on Youtube.
Sadly the final, final event, the unveiling of a plaque in central London had to be cancelled due to the lockdown measures.
The project also produced a complete revamp of the Equiano Society website which contains much more about the project and the man himself than we have been able to cover here: https://equiano.uk/the-equiano-society/
A thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile project, we have certainly learned a lot about Olaudah Equiano and we believe many others have too.
Although the heading of this page is ‘Journey’s End’ that really only applies to this specific project, the journey of discovery never really ends!