BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO-BRITISH " OTTOBAH CUGOANO " WAS AN AFRICAN ABOLITIONIST WHO WAS ACTIVE IN ENGLAND IN THE LATTER HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK HEROES "

                          BLACK             SOCIAL             HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Ottobah Cugoano, also known as John Stuart (c. 1757 - after 1791), was an African abolitionist who was active in England in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Captured and sold into slavery at the age of 13 in present-day Ghana, he was shipped to Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. In 1772 he was purchased by an English merchant who took him to England, where he was taught to read and write, and was freed following the ruling in theSomersett Case (1772). Later working for the Cosways, he became acquainted with British political and cultural figures, and joined the Sons of Africa, abolitionists who were Africans.

Early life

He was born Qobna Ottobah Cugoano in 1757 near Ajumako, modern day Ghana.^[1] He was a Fanti.^[1] His family was friends with the local chief.

At the age of 13, Cuguano was sold into slavery and transported to Grenada to work on an island plantation.^[1] He worked in the Lesser Antilles until he was purchased in 1772 by anEnglish merchant, who took him to England. That year, Cuguano was baptized as John Stuart; he obtained his freedom in England following the decision in the Somersett Case(1772), which ruled there was no basis for slavery in English common law.

Abolitionist

In 1784, John was employed as a servant by the artists Richard Cosway and his wife, Maria. Through the Cosways, he came to the attention of leading British political and cultural figures of the time, including the poet William Blake and the Prince of Wales. Together with Olaudah Equiano and other educated Africans living in Britain, he became active in theSons of Africa, an abolitionist group whose members wrote frequently to the newspapers of the day, condemning the practice of slavery.

In 1786 he played a key role in the case of Henry Demane, a kidnapped black man who was to be shipped back to the West Indies. Cugoano contacted Granville Sharp, a well known abolitionist, who was able to have Demane removed from the ship before it sailed.^[2]

In 1787, possibly with the help of his friend Olaudah Equiano, Cugoano published an attack on slavery entitled Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species (1787). By now a devout Christian, he wrote work informed by that religion. His writing called for the abolition of slavery and immediate emancipation of all slaves. It argues that the slave's duty is to escape from slavery, and that force should be used to prevent further enslavement. The narrative was sent to King George III, the Prince of Wales and to Edmund Burke, a leading politician.^[3] George III, along with much of the royal family, remained opposed to abolition of the slave trade.

Four years later, in 1791, Cugoano published a shorter version of his book, addressed to the "Sons of Africa". In it, he expressed qualified support for the failed British efforts to establish a colony in Sierra Leone for London’s Poor Blacks (mostly freed African-American slaves who were relocated after the American Revolutionary War.) He called for the establishment of schools in Britain especially for African students.

Nothing is known of Cugoano after the release of his book.