Equiano the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man [Hardcover]

Vincent Carretta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2005

This definitive biography tells the story of the former slave Olaudah Equiano (1745?–97), who in his day was the English-speaking world’s most renowned person of African descent. Equiano’s greatest legacy is his classic 1789 autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. A key document of the early movement to ban the slave trade, it includes the earliest known firsthand description by a slave of the horrific Middle Passage from Africa to the Americas. Equiano, the African is filled with fresh revelations about this many-sided figure—most notably that Equiano may have been born not in Africa, as he claimed, but in South Carolina. <P> For Vincent Carretta, such disconnects between the public persona and actual life of Equiano only increase his importance as a window into a number of complex, overlapping worlds. Equiano was a sailor, adventurer, entrepreneur, and jack-of-all-trades. Carretta distills years of scholarly detective work on Equiano’s life and writings into a richly textured portrait of the man whose many transformations took him from slave to slave trader to anti-slave-trade advocate, and from pagan to Christian. <P> This is "life and times" history at its best. Throughout, Carretta relates The Interesting Narrative to the historical record on Equiano, as well as to the century’s economic, political, and religious undercurrents. Carretta argues that Equiano may have fabricated his African roots and his survival of the Middle Passage not only to sell more copies of his book but also to help advance the movement against the slave trade. Equiano, the African will leave readers with a fuller appreciation of the man’s achievements and a deeper understanding of race and slavery in the Atlantic world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Olaudah Equiano's (c. 1745–1797) much anthologized autobiography is one of the earliest by an English-speaking person of African descent. But was it wholly truthful in its self-portrayal? Carretta, a senior fellow at Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, provides a masterful, lively and scrupulously researched account that questions central parts of the ex-slave's narrative, but upholds his view of himself as a self-made man. Carretta points out "compelling but not absolutely conclusive" evidence that Equiano, despite his description of a childhood in Africa and the Middle Passage, was born in South Carolina. As a slave, he spent most of his early life at sea, serving various British naval officers. Quick-witted and intelligent, Equiano gained his superiors' confidence and eventually his freedom; his nautical knowledge served him well later, when he traveled as a missionary to Sierra Leone. He lived most of his free life in England, worked as an abolitionist and served as a missionary. As Carretta so eloquently observes, Equiano did invent himself as a writer with a singular vantage point on slavery and as a spokesman for Africa (which he did visit later in life), a continent that few Europeans knew about in the 18th century. Carretta's exemplary study offers not only the definitive biography of Equiano but also a first-rate social history of the late 18th century in America and in England. B&w illus., maps. (Oct. 24)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* When a former slave, Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, wrote his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, in 1789, he became a prominent voice of resistance to slavery by descendants of Africans. Equiano detailed horrendous conditions for slaves in the West Indies and the Americas, providing firsthand accounts of the perilous Middle Passage. Matching historical records against Equiano's accounts of his life and voyages throughout North America, the Mediterranean, Europe, and the North Pole, Carretta records the adventurous life of a man who counted himself equal to all others and who worked at various times as a seaman, entrepreneur, overseer, and antislavery advocate. His wide experience, Carretta shows, gave Equiano a distinctive perspective on slavery and the tenuous life of a free black man. Carretta's research also reveals that, despite claiming that he was captured in Africa and enslaved, Equiano, in fact, was born in South Carolina. But that revelation only adds to the complex portrait of a man who passionately gave himself to a cause and shrewdly realized that, by claiming to be African-born, he could better aid that cause. This is a thoroughly rich, engrossing, and well-researched portrait of an exceptional man and the cause he championed. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 436 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press (October 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820325716
• ISBN-13: 978-0820325712
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,214,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly history at its best, May 21, 2006

By 

Elisabeth Hughes (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Equiano the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man (Hardcover)

An absorbing and beautifully written biography by possibly the leading expert on Equiano today.Caretta's revelation that Equiano may have been born in South Carolina rather than Africa only serves to make him an even more intriguing figure for those who are familiar with his autobiography. This is scholarly history at its best.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new and important contribution to identity politics, May 9, 2006

By 

Jessica M. Parr (NH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Equiano the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man (Hardcover)

Carretta's latest book is a scholarly examination of the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, aka Gustavas Vassa. This book has generated some controversy in its claim that Equiano may not have been born in Africa. Carretta's detractors, however, completely miss the point of this book, which places Equiano squarely in the same vein as other important Enlightenment writers like Benjamin Franklin. This book does not detract from the importance and usefulness of Equiano's autobiography. Rather, by providing thoughtful analysis of Equiano's narrative; it helps to illuminate how the he saw himself in a time and place where identity (and nationality) were instable. What is important is that Equiano saw himself as African, whether or not he was actually born in Africa. This distinction is important to getting the most out of this book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating biography; engaging social history, May 5, 2006

By 

John C. Inscoe - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Equiano the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man (Hardcover)

Carretta has provided a startling, yet convincing new perspective on one of the most influential of all slave narratives and the man who created it; he's also created a rich social history of the Atlantic world of the 18th century and the multiple roles Equiano played within that world. Carretta's detective work uncovers much new information and challenged long-held assumptions about a man we thought we knew so well. This is masterful scholarship and a terrific read.