Today, March 25 2007, is the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. In honor of this event, LibriVox volunteer CarlManchester organized a collaborative recording of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano:
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789, is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano. It discusses his time spent in slavery, serving primarily on galleys, documents his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible, and his eventual success in gaining his own freedom and in business thereafter. The book contains an interesting discussion of slavery in West Africa and illustrates how the experience differs from the dehumanising slavery of the Americas. The Intereresting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is also one of the first widely read slave narratives. (Summary from Wikipedia)
Download our recordings here:
The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano
Great choice, Carl, and thanks for organizing this!
I did not know that slavery in England had ended that far back I am truly surprised. That puts the book at 200 years old? That would make it one of the oldest on here?