Two 18th century African writers: Ignatius Sancho and Ottobah Cugoano

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Periodical article

Title:	Two 18th century African writers: Ignatius Sancho and Ottobah Cugoano
Author:	Vincent, Theo
Year:	1970
Periodical:	Black Orpheus: A Journal of African and Afro-American Literature
Volume:	2
Issue:	5-6
Pages:	20-30
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Subsaharan Africa
Subjects:	political opposition slavery literature
About person:	Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780)
Abstract:	It is generally agreed that the African is in the best position to interpret the African mind and feelings. But do these African writers in the 18th century interpret the African mind, what one might call the sensibility of the African, as we know it? To examine this question, this paper deals with two African writers, who were born as slaves and came to live in England: Ignatius Sancho (b. 1729) and Ottobah Cugoano. It discusses 'Letters', Sancho's only extant literary work, published for the first time in 1782, and 'Thoughts and sentiments on the evil and wicked traffic of the slavery and commerce of the human species', by Cugoano, published in 1787. Notes, ref.