John Jea

Biography
John Jea was born in Africa in 1773. 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.[1]

His autobiography was only rediscovered in 1983.[1]