Activist roots

Ottobah Cugoano was an anti-slavery activist, who was captured from his home as a child and transported to Grenada, and later to England, where he was enslaved and forced to work in plantations.

He was freed some years later in England, and became deeply involved in campaigning for the freedom of enslaved people, as well as for former enslaved people’s rights and social justice. He worked with other abolitionists and leaders in the UK, including Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp, and helped to prevent many other Black men from being forced into slavery.

Written success

After learning how to read and write in England (he wasn’t educated as a child due to being enslaved), he published an account of his experiences. He hoped that revealing the realities of being enslaved to the public might help his cause to end slavery.

He was the first African, and former enslaved person, to publicly demand the abolition of the slave trade. Despite this, politicians rejected his demands, and so he continued to release more books about slavery, advocating for its abolition by criticising the arguments to keep slavery (particularly religious ones), as well as wanting justice for enslaved people and the freedom of all enslaved Africans across the world.

Eventually, these publications created some positive change, and some of his ideas were adopted by the organisation, Enlightenment Europe. This led to the declaration of the human rights of Africans and their freedom.