Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by Himself


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 For Daisy —M.E. 
 For those I’ve taught and those who’ve taught me —L.Y. 
 Text copyright © 2023 by Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge
 
 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.
 
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 Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA
 
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 Designed by Athena Currier. 
 Main body text set in Bulmer MT Std. 
 Typeface provided by Monotype Typography.
 
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 
 Names: Edinger, Monica, 1952– author. | Younge, Lesley, author. 
 Title: Nearer my freedom : the interesting life of Olaudah Equiano by himself / Monica Edinger and Lesley Younge. 
 Description: Minneapolis : Zest Books , [2023] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Audience: Ages 10–18 | Audience: Grades 7–9 | Summary: “Using Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography as the source, the text shares Equiano’s life story in found verse. Readers will follow his story from his childhood in Africa, enslavement at a young age, liberation, and life as a free man” —Provided by publisher. 
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022023681 (print) | LCCN 2022023682 (ebook) | ISBN 9781728450988 (library binding) | ISBN 9781728464077 (paperback) | ISBN 9781728462721 (ebook) 
 Subjects: LCSH: Equiano, Olaudah, 1745–1797. | Slaves—Biography—Juvenile literature. 
 Classification: LCC HT869.E6 E35 2023 (print) | LCC HT869.E6 (ebook) | DDC 306.3/62092 [B]—dc23/eng/20220718 
 
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022023681 
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022023682
 
 Manufactured in the United States of America 
 1-50633-50069-10/7/2022 
 
 
 Table of Contents 
 About This Book 
 Prologue 
 Part One 
 Chapter One I Was Born in Essaka 
 Chapter Two No Small Fear 
 Chapter Three I Was Now amongst a People 
 Chapter Four To See Fresh Wonders 
 Chapter Five Curse the Tide 
 Chapter Six I Determined to Make Every Exertion 
 Chapter Seven Nearer My Freedom 
 Part Two 
 Chapter Eight If I Should Still Be Saved 
 Chapter Nine A Roving Disposition 
 Chapter Ten I Rejoiced in Spirit 
 Chapter Eleven A Mind for a New Adventure 
 Chapter Twelve Go Ye and Do Likewise 
 Epilogue 
 Creating a Verse Version 
 Timeline 
 Glossary 
 Source Notes 
 Bibliography 
 Further Reading 
 Index 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 About This Book
 
 
 
 
 
 According to his autobiography, Olaudah Equiano was born in West Africa in 1745, kidnapped from his village at a young age, shipped across the ocean, and sold into slavery as part of the Atlantic triangular trade system. This traumatic set of events launched him on a series of incredible adventures that would be extraordinary for anyone—especially for someone who was enslaved. Equiano spent very little of his time on land working in agriculture like the majority of captured Africans. Instead, he was primarily at sea on British military and merchant ships. His experiences as a sailor afforded him unique opportunities, of which he took every advantage. 
 Despite his circumstances, Olaudah Equiano never lost sight of his desire for freedom, and he was eventually able to pay for his own liberation. Afterward, he moved to England and integrated himself into British society. Known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa, Olaudah was a sailor, a gentleman, an adventurer, a merchant, and a hairdresser before becoming a writer and the first best-selling author of African descent in the Western world. He sailed across the Atlantic Ocean many times and traveled along other waterways, including the Arctic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Known for his integrity and intelligence, he was asked to help with various projects, such as building a plantation in Honduras and setting up a colony of free Black people in Sierra Leone. He established a reputation as a writer and orator. Ultimately, Equiano became a significant figure in the multiracial abolition movement that swept across England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. 
 Slavery is—and has always been—a global industry that creates wealth for generations of traders, consumers, and enslavers around the world. Many would like to forget or erase this uncomfortable fact, yet the truth persists. This book focuses specifically on slavery and abolition through the eyes and words of Olaudah Equiano, whose aim was freedom. Equiano spent much of his life enslaved under the British Empire’s laws, yet he freed himself. His words and advocacy also freed others from accepting slavery as if it were an inevitable part of economic systems. By speaking the truth, he created a path for himself and many others to choose and forge a brighter future. 
 In many ways, the transatlantic slave trade was a particularly cruel form of slavery. Repercussions from it still ripple through our societies today. Olaudah Equiano’s story makes clear that slavery was a complex and profitable international business. It is difficult to separate the modern-day wealth and power of countries like the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and Portugal from their early reliance on the slave trade and the labor of enslaved people. 
 Here we present a verse version of Olaudah Equiano’s powerful first-person account. Found verse takes existing text and reorganizes a selection of words, phrases, and sentences into poems. The poems use The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself as the source text. This book helped birth a genre of literature and was a powerful tool against the institution of slavery. By listening to and honoring this voice from the past, we can draw