The Life of Olaudah Equiano is one of the earliest-known examples of published writing by an
African writer and the first influential slave narrative of what became a large literary genre.
Equiano's autobiography helped in the creation of the Slave Trade Act 1807 which ended the
African slave trade for Britain and its colonies. Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 - 1797) known in
his lifetime as Gustavus Vassa was a freed slave of Igbo extraction from the eastern part of
present-day Nigeria who supported the British movement to end the slave trade.
