The question of where Olaudah Equiano / Gustavus Vassa was born has long been a subject of scholarly debate. There is conflicting evidence pointing to an area in modern-day Nigeria and the slave plantations of South Carolina. I recall being challenged on this when I was taking people round an exhibition in London.[1]https://www.historycalroots.com/equiano-2019/ I inadvertently referred to Equiano having been born in what is now part of Nigeria without mentioning any alternative possibility. It is a subject that can generate heated discussion!
If we accept South Carolina as his birthplace then the ‘Interesting Narrative’ has to be seen as a work of imaginative fiction (albeit a well researched one) rather than an auto-biography of a real person – having read the book, that has always seemed somewhat far-fetched to me.
One of the main supporters of the ‘Nigeria’ theory is Professor Paul Lovejoy and he has recently re-visited the subject:
It is more ‘academic’ than much of the material we publish on this site but offers a very readable account of the subject. Much as the professor may hope this is the ‘definitive’ answer, I strongly suspect the debate will go on.
References
| ↑1 | https://www.historycalroots.com/equiano-2019/ |
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