Olaudah Equiano (c.1745 - 1797)

Olaudah Equiano was a former slave who became an important activist in the anti-slave trade movement in the 1780s. As a child he was enslaved and taken from Nigeria to work in the Caribbean, but was able to purchased his freedom in 1766. Equiano came to London and supported the British abolitionist movement. He was an active member of the 'Sons of Africa', an abolitionist group of Africans living in Britain. He published his autobiography 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano' in 1789, which depicted the horrors of slavery. He travelled around Britain promoting his book and the abolitionist movement. In 1792 he promoted his book in Newcastle and for a time based himself in a book shop in the Bigg Market. Whilst at Newcastle he recorded his tour of St. Anthony’s Colliery, going 90 fathoms below, under the river Tyne, some hundreds of yards on Durham side.