Olaudah Equiano Painted after he had bought his freedom, this portrait evokes Equiano’s successful acculturation to eighteenth-century English customs. In his Interesting Narrative, Equiano wrote that he “looked upon [the English] . . . as men superior to us [Africans], and therefore I had the stronger desire to resemble them, to imbibe their spirit and imitate their manners.”

Library of Congress, 3b01988.