I believe that Equiano's autobiography "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa", is a genuine account from hom being a African ex-slave, but I also believe that he wanted to gain some political purpose from his autobiography. as an ex-slave he wanted to tell his story of what and how he lived and survived during the slave trade era, but being in this era he wanted to make changes in the way of abolishing the slave trade, therefore using his autobiography as a voice against the bad political state he was living in at the time. with that being said I do not believe that he invented his African status to speak up against the political system, merely used his story as an African ex-slave as a voice.