Quobna Ottobah Cugoano
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Quobna Ottobah Cugoano (1757?-1801?) was an African abolitionist who was active in England in the latter half of the eighteenth century.
Born to the Fante people in what is now Ghana, Cugoano was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1770. He was shipped first to the West Indies, but in 1772 he arrived in England. He was baptized as "John Stuart" the following year.
In 1784, he was employed as a servant by the artists Richard Cosway and his wife Maria. This was a turning point in Cugoano's life, since, through the Cosways, he came to the attention of leading British political and cultural figures of the time, including poet William Blake and the Prince of Wales. Together with Olaudah Equiano and other educated Africans living in Britain, he was active in the Sons of Africa, an abolitionist group that wrote frequently to the newspapers of the day, condemning the practice of slavery.
Cugoano was one of the most outspoken members of the group, describing the history of the slave trade, and concluding that a major source of the problem was European colonialism in the Americas, where slaves were needed to work the massive plantations that emerged. By now a devout Christian, his work was rich with religious undertones, but at the same time, it was also very bitter, blaming all British people for allowing slavery to exist, and calling on slaves to rebel. These ideas were forcibly expressed in his magnum opus, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species (1787).
Four years later, in 1791, Cugoano released an abridged version of his book, written particularly for slaves. In it he expressed qualified support for the failed British efforts to establish a colony for London's Black Poor in Sierra Leone and called for the establishment of schools in Britain especially for African students.
Nothing is known about what Cugoano did after the release of this book.
