Ottobah Cugoano was born in the town of Ajumako in Ghana. In 1770, at the age of thirteen, he was seized and sold into slavery, where he was forced to work on a plantation in Grenada. In late 1772, he was taken to England by the Scottish enslaver, Alexander Campbell. He was soon able to gain his freedom and was baptised at St James's Church, Piccadilly, in August 1773 under the name 'John Stuart'. By 1784, Cugoano was employed in the household of the artists Richard and Maria Cosway who had established a fashionable salon at their home Schomberg House, Pall Mall. Richard Cosway was painter to the Prince of Wales, later George IV, who made regular visits to Schomberg House from his nearby residence of Carlton House. It may have been through this connection that Cugoano became known to the Prince.
In 1787, Cugoano, along with Olaudah Equiano and other Black abolitionists lving in London established the Sons of Africa Movement to campaign for the abolition of the slave trade and the emancipation of all enslaved people. The group published newspaper articles, pamphlets and books to further their cause. This book, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species was written by Cugoano in 1787 as part of the campaign. It used examples from the Bible to demonstrate that the enslavement of other human beings was immoral and that those who participated in it, as well as those who benefitted from enslaved labour, were breaking the Word of God. The work may have been partly collaborative and written with the assistance of Equiano, who, in 1789 published an account of his own experiences in enslavement.
The copy of Thoughts and Sentiments in the Royal Library belonged to George IV when Prince of Wales and was held in his library at Carlton House. It may be the copy mentioned in a letter from Cugoano which states that he had presented one to the Prince.
In 1791, Cugoano published a new edition addressed directly to the African community in Britain. While shorter than the 1787 book, the text offered support for abolitionist-sponsored efforts to establish a free Black colony in Sierra Leone and advocated for the establishment in Britain of schools especially for Black students. Also in 1791, Cugoano moved with the Cosways from Schomberg House to Mayfair, where, following a letter in which he remarked on the promotion of the new edition of his book, he disappears from the historical record.