The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, was an important piece of literature that helped turn public opinion in Britain against the slave trade. Olaudah Equiano was born around 1745 in what is now Nigeria. Taken from his family by slave traders when he was a child, Equiano was sold into slavery and was eventually sold to a lieutenant. Michael Henry Pascal, British Navy. During his time in Pascal's service, Equiano was trained in seamanship and sent to school to learn to read and write. During this time he also converted to Christianity and was baptized in 1759. Equiano was eventually sold to Robert King, a Quaker from Philadelphia who was involved in Caribbean trade. Robert King served as a mentor to Equiano both educationally and spiritually, and while serving King, Equiano was able to save money by trading and purchase his freedom after three years of service. He paid forty pounds for his freedom, the same price King had paid to purchase him. For the next twenty years or so, Equiano traveled extensively, including participating in the 1772 Phipps Expedition searching for the Northwest Passage. In 1786 he went to London and became an active member of the abolitionist movement. Three years later, in 1789, Equiano had his autobiography published. The funds he received from the sale of the book enabled him to support himself and, after 1792, his wife Susannah Cullen. They had two daughters, although only one of them survived beyond the age of four. Olaudah Equiano died in 1797 at the age of fifty-two, just thirty-six years before slavery was formally abolished in the British Empire. The excerpt from Equiano's autobiography gives us an extraordinarily clear picture of what Africans were abd...... of paper......ell as justice and humanity.”(page 3)The interesting story of Olaudah Equiano's life gave the British Empire pause to consider the atrocities committed in the name of trade and wealth. It also gives us a glimpse into the social consciousness of the people of the time, as Equiano was able to successfully make appeals based on the humanity of the African people sold into slavery. The paper also provides an interesting parallel to the current state of the international economy, with sweatshops in East Asia and the continued willingness to tolerate the dehumanization of the people who work there in order to support a global economy that depends on their labor . . The details shown in this document also give us the opportunity to look at the economic system of Great Britain and how the economy influenced the British Empire and its relationship with Africa..