James Stout

And so he starts meeting during the times when he's back in London.

He starts meeting with and befriending some of the small number of Englishmen who oppose the institution of slavery.

Yeah.

And after reading that op-ed, he comes across this article about what's happened on the Zorg.

He's sick with horror and fury at what has happened.

I mean, it's just an awful thing.

And he has personal experience with being on those boats.

So he knows much better how awful it is than an average person reading it.

And he wants to do something.

However, he's also a practical guy.

he knows that even a freed black man has zero political power and influence in England at the time.

So if he's going to have an impact on the situation, he's going to have to be cunning about it.

One of Equiano's friends is a writer and a lawyer who's also like an early abolitionist named Granville Sharp.

And Sharp is going to be the second of our heroes for this episode.

One of the coolest dudes to ever live.

Really like just an actual great man.

Born in Durham in 1735, Granville was the middle-ish child of 14.

Five of his eight older brothers survived early childhood, which means his parents were better than average.

His family was working class, and as a youth, he was apprenticed to the owner of a fabric store.

However, he turned out to be one of those kids who's just like irrepressibly smart, right?