Born in an African village, he was sold into slavery, first locally, then in England, then in America where he managed to buy his freedom. He returned to England and wrote the first autobiography of a slave, 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African'. Published in 1789 this was written mainly in Riding House Street, Marylebone. He went on to work with the abolitionists. For someone taken into slavery he lead an extraordinary live and must have been either very lucky, an exceptional person, or both.
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2019: Equiano's place of burial was confirmed as the cemetery next to Whitfield’s Tabernacle on Tottenham Court Road. See the CNJ for a description of the discovery.
2022: Londonist show a nice bust of Equiano at the Greenwich National Maritime Museum.
