Ottobah Cugoano

Ottobah Cugoano, also known as John Stuart (c. 1757 – after 1791), is an African abolitionist and natural rights philosopher from Ghana who is active in England in the latter half of the eighteenth century.

Captured in present-day Ghana and sold into slavery at the age of 1thirteen, he is shipped to Grenada in the Lesser Antilles, where he works on a plantation.

In 1772 he is purchased by an English merchant who takes him to England, where he is taught to read and write, and is freed following the ruling in the Somersett Case (1772).

Later working for artists Richard and Maria Cosway, he becomes acquainted with British political and cultural figures.

He joins the Sons of Africa, African abolitionists in England.

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