KS1 Black British History: Olaudah Equiano

Hi, I'm Nigel, and I'm a TV presenter. I was born and raised in London, in the United Kingdom, and my parents were born and raised in the Caribbean. My mum, dad, aunties and uncles moved here from a Caribbean country called Guyana.

Did you know that there are over two million black people living in the UK just like me? Many of us who moved here long ago, and those of us who live here now, have worked really hard to shape British history and have made a real difference.

This is the story of just one of them - the awesome Olaudah Equiano, who lived more than 200 years ago.

In Nigeria, where he came from, they pronounce his name Olaudah - Ol - au - dah.

Olaudah spent many years of his life as a slave. Being a slave means that someone else owns you and tells you what you must do. Slavery is a terrible thing, but sadly, many black people were slaves at the time that Olaudah lived. Olaudah wrote a book about what it felt like to be a slave. It was a book that helped to change history.

Olaudah was born in the African country of Nigeria in 1745. He was born to a very important family and was meant to become the leader of his people. But when he was 11 years old, he was taken from his village and sold to be a slave.

He was put on a big ship with other slaves and sent across the ocean, first to the Caribbean and then to America.

in America Olaudah was sold to one man and then, less than a year later, sold to another - an English sea captain who forced Olaudah to use a different name: Gustavus.

Olaudah's new master brought him to England before setting off on journeys to many different countries, taking Olaudah with him as his slave.

At around this time, Olaudah learnt to read and write - something that enslaved people were often forbidden to do.

Then in 1762, Olaudah was sold again and taken back to the Caribbean and then sold for the final time in America.

Olaudah's new master must have liked him, because he allowed Olaudah to earn a little money for himself.

After three years Olaudah had earned enough money to buy his freedom. In exchange for all the money he'd earned he was given something called a Certificate of Emancipation. E - man - ci - pa - tion. It means he was now free. He was no longer a slave.

It was now 1766 and Olaudah was about 20 years old. He travelled to London and began work as a barber, cutting people's hair, but Olaudah never forgot the terrible treatment he and the other slaves had suffered.

So he wrote a book all about his life so that people would understand what it was like to be a slave. It was the first book written in the English language by an African, and it was called The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.

The stories in the book were so powerful that Olaudah was asked to travel around England to speak about what he had written. It helped people to understand why slavery was such a bad thing.

For the rest of his life Olaudah worked as hard as he could to force the government and the people of the United Kingdom to end slavery.

Olaudah died in 1797 and, some years after his death, everything that he worked for came true. Slavery in this country was made illegal. It came to an end. He was a great man who changed British history.

(Recap) So Olaudah's story begins in Nigeria, in Africa, where he was born. He was taken as a child to America and sold as a slave. Later, he was allowed to earn a little bit of money and eventually he saved enough to buy his freedom. He moved to London, where he did everything he could to end slavery, including writing a book about his life. It helped people to understand how terrible slavery was and help bring it to an end.