Voices from Slavery by Chigor Chike focuses on four former slaves who lived in Britain in the 18th century: Ignatius Sancho, Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cugoano, and Ukawsaw Gronniosaw. The author interweaves the story of their religious and political lives with the history of the period. He looks at their understanding of God in the context of their lives — for example, the idea of a God of justice and mercy, and the notion that slavery was not incompatible with Christianity.

Chike also looks at their understanding of humanity, and the sense of holding on to it rather than being consumed by anger. He also explores the concept of freedom, and of a life that has value.

There were then many African people in England, especially in London, and the four men were well known in their time, though they have been written out of history. Chike looks at the corruption and drunkenness of society as depicted by Hogarth, at the Evangelical revival, and at the beginning of social reform. Our culturally rich Britain has its problems, but this was true also of the 18th century. Many people believed that Africans were merely one step up from savages; but, by their writing, speeches, and political status, these men dispelled that notion.

Sancho was a man of letters who worked for the Earl of Montague’s family. Cugoano worked for Cosgrove, the Prince of Wales’s court painter. Gronniosaw was the most conservative politically; Equiano was the activist. Chike quotes extensively from their writings. These multi-dimensional people come alive in this book, not as saints, but as real men experiencing the social constraints of being black.’

Voices from Slavery by Chigor Chike,  Author House Publishers, www.authorhouse.co.uk, £10.99; 978-14259-8739-8; print on demand

Allison Ward