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Music It's 1756 in a village in what's now Nigeria.

11-year-old Olada Equiano runs through the yard of his family home, playing tag with his younger sister.

She shrieks in delight as she cuts a

quick corner and races away from her older brother. But Olada almost clatters into his sister's

back when she suddenly stops running. Puzzled, Olada follows her gaze and his stomach

lurches when he sees three figures climbing over the fence into their yard.

Ever since he was a young child, Olaada's parents have warned him what to do in a situation like this. This part of Africa is plagued by kidnappers who work for slavers. They abduct

children to be sent to slave markets on the coast. Olaada's parents drilled into him that if

he's ever approached by strangers,

he must run. So Olada grabs his sister's arm, and they dash in the opposite direction

away from the men, but the kidnappers quickly catch up. One of them pulls Olada's sister down to the

ground. Then the other two men sees Olata too, and a hand is clamped over his mouth as

Olata is roughly pushed to the ground and restrained. Then he and his sister are hustled out of the

yard and away from the home to which they'll now never return. Six months after being

kidnapped, Olata Equiano will be placed on a slave ship and taken across

the Atlantic Ocean to America. Eventually, years later, he'll buy his freedom from slavery and

dedicate his life to ending the cruel practice forever, becoming a major figure in the abolition

movement thanks to a memoir that documents

...