Cugoano, Quobna Ottabah
1750s-Unknown
The African slave who was the first to write an Abolistionist book in English.
by Rit Nosotro First Published:: 2003( )
Quobna Ottabah Cugoano was born in Ghana during the time of the triangle trade. Once his parents died, he lived peacefully with his cousin. One day he was feeling anxious about going hunting I the woods. He felt as if something horrible was going to happen. One of his cousins challenged him and insulted him. The next day Ottabah went hunting as normal. They were attacked in the woods and taken to a town with "white people".
The kidnapping was the beginning of torture for Ottabah. Ottabah and his friends tried in vein to escape, but then came threatening weapons. The captives were forced to enter a boat. In the boat, they were treated cruelly and barely had enough room to stand. The women had all the freedoms she could get. Instead of the men being treated fairly, it was the women. Since the captors wanted a wife, they took the African women. The men would have rather burned up, then stay in that boat. They would plan how to burn the boat, but they were out of luck. They arrived in Granada, only to find out that they would have to work in plantations. The plantation owners were merciless and brutal. The pain that Ottabah went through is indescribable.
Ottabah was then sent to England where he earned his freedom. Ottabah became a servant to Richard Cosway and wrote his first book there. His book was the first abolitionist book written by an African in English. After Ottabah Cugoano wrote hi first book, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Commerce of the Human Species, he was no longer seen in history. The rest of his life is unknown.
The anguish that Cugoano went through is a description of what a lot more people went through. Cugoano is known as a great abolitionist of his time. Although Cugoano was no longer a part of history, his book is still recognized today.
