Ottobah Cugoano (ca. 1757-ca. 1803) was an African of Fanti origin from the Gold Coast in present-day Ghana. He became a prominent figure among the free Africans of late-18th-century London and in 1787 published an attack on slavery and the slave trade.

Ottobah Cugoano was born near Ajumako and grew up in the household of the Fanti chief Ambro Accasa, ruler of Ajumako and Assinie. Cugoano was enslaved as a youth, taken to Grenada in the West Indies, and from there brought to England, where he was freed.

Educated while a slave and converted to Christianity, Cugoano soon emerged as a leader of opinion among the free Africans of London, where he corresponded under the adopted name of John Stewart, or Stuart, and became familiar with the abolitionist leaders Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson. Cugoano was a friend of Olaudah Equiano, with whom he collaborated in representing African interests...