Abigail Field Mott's The Life and Adventures of Olaudah Equiano

An adaptation of Olaudah Equianos Interesting Narrative published for Black children in 1829, now given new life in a major scholarly edition. In 1829, Samuel Wood and Sons, a New York publisher of childrens literature, printed and sold the Quaker Abigail Field Motts Life and Adventures of Olaudah Equiano. Mott adapted Olaudah Equianos Interesting Narrative, a bestselling autobiography first published in London in 1789 for Black children studying at New York African Free Schools, one of the first educational systems to teach individuals of African descent in the United States. By reissuing Motts neglected adaptation with contextualizing scholarly apparatus, Eric D. Lamore disrupts the editorial tradition of selecting a London edition of Equianos Interesting Narrative, and positions Equiano in the United States instead of Great Britain. Lamores volume contains Motts childrens book, which includes a series of illustrations, in a facsimile edition; instructive notes on Life and Adventures; a provocative essay on the adaptation; and selections from relevant texts on the New York African Free Schools and other related topics. With its focus on the intersections of early Black Atlantic and American studies, childrens literature, history of education, life writing, and book history, this edition offers a fresh take on Equiano and his autobiography for a variety of twenty-first-century audiences.