Quobna Cugoano: All you need to know about the Ghanaian slave who has been honored by the Church of England

Born in 1757 at Ajumako in the Central Region of Ghana, formerly known as Gold Coast, Quobna Ottobah Cugoano was captured into slavery at the age of 13 while he was playing with his friends in a field.

On that fateful day his freedom was taken away from him on the field, he together with the people who also lost their freedom were transported out of the country.

Upon arriving in a different country far from home, the young boy was positioned to work at a sugar plantation in Grenada, a Caribbean Island.

He was held captive for two years and according to a report by BBC, the boy worked hard towards attaining his freedom, and in 1772, he was declared a freeman.

The report mentioned that to date, no one knows how Quobna Cugoano managed to attain his freedom but attributed it to the year the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Mansfield, ruled that an attempt to send a formerly enslaved person back into slavery was unlawful.

It also stated that Quobna Cugoano was in England the same year Lord Mansfield made such a declaration.

Quobna Cugoano, winning his freedom back made him a strong abolitionist in the 18th Century. Among some actions he took to help end slavery included writing letters to some media outlets in Britain as well as the country’s parliament. The content of those letters always conveyed one goal which was to end the slave trade and slavery.

He was also known to be a writer and some of his notable works included “Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species” written in 1787.

Quobna Ottobah Cugoano’s life was shortlived as in died in 1791 at the age of 33 years.

ED/BB