From Homebreakers to Jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters Book

My wife was so excited when she found out I was reading this, because she says she now knows the worst possible answer to "What are you into?" "I'm pretty into 18th-century slave narratives." It's a good thing I'm already married, she says. Worst Tinder profile ever.

Anyway, so I'm pretty into 18th-century slave narratives, specifically this one book, the first major slave narrative, which was a ginormous success when it was published in 1789, going to eight editions and remaining continuously in print for a century, and helping to bring about the end of slavery in Britain. (I'm also into 19th-century slave narratives!)

And Olaudah Equiano's story has it all. Slavery! Naval warfare! Shipwreck! Arctic exploration! It's so action-packed that it feels wildly improbable, but Equiano was a public figure, a leading abolitionist, and most of his story is thoroughly documented. There's some pedantic debate about whether he was born in Africa or South Carolina. (The book begins in Africa and follows his capture and passage to the Indies.) The rest of it definitely happened.

The more unfortunate thing is that it's wildly boring. Equiano has a fascinating story, but he's a horrendous storyteller. Here's a story:
Just as our ship was under sail, I went down under the cabin, to do some business, and had a lighted candle in my hand, which, in my hurry, without thinking, I held in a barrel of gunpowder. It remained in the powder, until it was near catching fire, when fortunately, I observed it.
That's incredible, right? I'm almost impressed at his ability to make such a great story that boring. Wait 'til he starts talking about God, it's dire.

So this is sort of the Castle of Otranto of slave narratives: it's an inventor of the genre, and responsible for codifying many of its rules, but in itself it's not great literature. As slave narratives became a popular genre in the 19th century, they followed Equiano's three-act blueprint:

- The horrors of slavery are described
- There is a dramatic escape
- The author becomes a productive member of society.

The details here are unique, mostly due to Equiano's extensive naval career, but the basic arc is in place. More gifted writers - notably Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs and Solomon Northup - would make better literature with it in the coming century. Olaudah Equiano's book is important but not terrifically well-told; I can only really recommend it if, say, you're already pretty into 18th-century slave narratives.