John Jea (born 1773) was an African-American slave, best known for his 1811 autobiography, The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher.
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John Jea was born in Africa in 1773 near Calabar in the Bight of Biafra.[1] He was sold into slavery in New York with his family, where they worked for a Dutch couple, Oliver and Angelika Triehuen. After learning to read the Bible, he was freed and eventually embarked on a journey to Boston, New Orleans, South America, Holland, France, Germany, Ireland and England, where he worked as a preacher.
He later published his autobiography along with poems, thus being one of the first African-American poets to have written an autobiography.[2]
His autobiography was only rediscovered in 1983.[2]