Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery — Quobna Ottobah Cugoano
Gurinder Purewal
Introduction
Quobna Ottobah Cugoano was born in Ghana and abducted and sold into slavery as told by his groundbreaking work, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery, which provides the foremost argument and critiques of slavery by an African writer (Cugoano [1787] 1999). In this profound and powerful text, Cugoano strongly challenges dominant pro-slavery discourses, such as the constructed notion of divine justification for slavery, that Africans regularly engaged in selling their own kin, and that the slaves from Africa were of better quality than European peasants. His work provides a universal moral awakening against the depraved institution of slavery (Cugoano [1787] 1999).
Reading
Access the reading via the Internet Archive: Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery by Quobna Ottobah Cugoano ([1787] 1999)
Discussion Questions
Against the Institution of Slavery
- What are Cugoano’s arguments against slavery?
- How does Cugoano use scripture to support his claims?
- How does Cugoano compare the plight of the free poor to that of even well-treated slaves?
Bibliography
Cugoano, Quobna Ottobah. (1787) 1999. Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery, edited by Vincent Carretta. New York, NY: Penguin Books. https://archive.org/details/thoughtssentimen00cugo_0/mode/2up.
How to Cite This Page
Purewal, Gurinder 2024. “Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery — Quobna Ottobah Cugoano.” In Great Thinkers, edited by Gurinder Purewal and Jenna Woodrow. Kamloops, BC: TRU Open Press. https://greatthinkers.pressbooks.tru.ca/chapter/thoughts-and-sentiments-on-the-evil-of-slavery-cugoano/.
