COLLECTION NAME:
JCB Archive of Early American Images
Record
Accession number:
74-87
Record number:
74-87-1
JCB call number:
D789 E64i
Image title:
Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African
Creator 1:
William Denton
Creator 1 role:
pinxt.
Creator 2:
Daniel Orme
Creator 2 dates:
ca. 1766-1802?
Creator 2 role:
sculpt.
Place image published:
[London]
Image publisher:
G. Vassa
Image date:
1789
Image function:
frontispiece; vol. 1
Technique:
engraving
Image dimension height:
10.6 cm.
Image dimension width:
8.1 cm.
Page dimension height:
17.3 cm.
Page dimension width:
10 cm.
Materials medium:
ink
Materials support:
paper
Languages:
English
Description:
Portrait of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, a black slave. He holds a copy of the Bible open to Acts.
Source creator:
Equiano, Olaudah, b. 1745
Source Title:
The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.
Source place of publication:
London
Source publisher:
Printed for, and sold by the author, no. 10, Union-Street, Middlesex Hospital ...
Source date:
[1789]
notes:
According to his autobiography, Equiano was born in what is present-day Nigeria and was sold into slavery in childhood. As a slave to a captain in the Royal Navy and later as the slave to a Quaker merchant, he traveled the world, eventually earning his freedom. His abolitionist autobiography--nine editions were printed between 1789 and 1794--served as a prototype for later slave narratives. He became involved in the antislavery movement. Recent scholarship has suggested that Equaino may have been born in South Carolina, which means that his graphic description of being transported on a slave ship may not necessarily be his own, but may be based on tales that he heard.
Time Period:
1751-1800
References exhibitions:
Hattendorf, J.B. Boundless Deep, fig. 6.6, p. 129
Provenance/Donor:
Acquired in 1974.
Owner and copyright:
©John Carter Brown Library, Box 1894, Brown University, Providence, R.I. 02912
Subject Area:
Portraits
Subject headings:
Slavery--United States
Subject headings:
Slaves' writings, American
Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African
