bio notes:
died: 12/14/1780
born as: Ignatius Sancho

Born on a slave ship to African parents, Sancho was orphaned at an early age and brought to England, where he became a butler and received an education. He published a treatise on music and two plays, and was the first black African to vote in a British election. On his death he was the first African to be given an obituary in the British press. Two years later his Letter were published - one of the earliest accounts of African slavery written by a former slave in English.