Ottobah Cugoano

Ottobah Cugoano ( – ), also known as John Stuart, was a British abolitionist and activist who was born in the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana). He was sold into slavery at the age of thirteen and shipped to Grenada in the West Indies. In 1772, he was purchased by a merchant who took him to England, where Cugoano learned to read and write, and was emancipated. Eventually, he started working for the artists Richard and Maria Cosway, becoming acquainted with several prominent British political and cultural figures as a result. He joined the Sons of Africa, a group of Black abolitionists in Britain, and died at some point after 1791.

Early life He was born Quobna Ottobah Cugoano in 1757 in Agimaque (Ajumako) in the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana). He was born into a Fante family It is thought possible that encouragement for him to gain freedom may have come from the pivotal case Somerset v Stewart, involving James Somerset, who had escaped from enslavement. In June 1772 its ruling challenged the legal basis of slavery in England and Wales.

On 20 August 1773, Cugoano was baptised at St James's Church, Piccadilly, as "John Stuart – a Black, aged 16 Years".

Abolitionist

In 1784, Cugoano was employed as a servant by the artists Richard Cosway and his wife, Maria. A shorter version of the work was published in 1791, with subscribers including prominent artists such as Cosway, Joshua Reynolds, James Northcote and Joseph Nollekens, "indicating their support of Cugoano's mission". In the shortened work, addressed to the "Sons of Africa", Cugoano expressed qualified support for the efforts to establish a colony in Sierra Leone for London's "Poor Blacks" (mostly freed African-American slaves who had been relocated to London after the American Revolutionary War. Other early settlers were the Nova Scotian Settlers, that is Black Loyalists, also former American slaves, from Nova Scotia, who chose to move to Sierra Leone). Cugoano called for the establishment of schools in Britain especially for African students.

In 1791, Cugoano moved with the Cosways to 12 Queen Street in Mayfair. His last known letter, written in 1791, mentions travelling to "upwards of fifty places" to promote the book and that he found that "complexion is a predominant prejudice". Cugoano wished to travel to Nova Scotia to recruit settlers for the proposed free colony of African Britons in Sierra Leone but it is not known if he did so.

After 1791, Cugoano disappears from the historical record, and it is likely that he died in 1791 or 1792.

On 20 August 2023, St James's Church, Piccadilly, dedicated a new plaque to honour the 250th anniversary of Cugoano's baptism there in 1773, the only recorded date in his life. St James's additionally commissioned Trinidad-based artist Che Lovelace to create a new artwork in commemoration of Cugoano's baptismal anniversary, to be installed in the church entrance on 20 September 2023 – the first permanent artwork commissioned by St James's Church, as well as the first anywhere in the world to commemorate Cugoano.