- See also Captivity narrative
Captivity narratives are stories of people captured by "uncivilized" enemies. The narratives often include a theme of redemption by faith in the face of the threats and temptations of an alien way of life. Barbary captivity narratives, stories of Englishmen captured by Barbary pirates, were popular...
The
slave narrative is a literary form which grew out of the written accounts of enslaved Africans in
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
its coloniesThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
, including the later
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and
Caribbean The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
nations. Some six thousand former slaves from
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
and the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
gave accounts of their lives during the 18th and 19th centuries, with about 150 narratives published as separate books or pamphlets.
- See also Captivity narrative
Captivity narratives are stories of people captured by "uncivilized" enemies. The narratives often include a theme of redemption by faith in the face of the threats and temptations of an alien way of life. Barbary captivity narratives, stories of Englishmen captured by Barbary pirates, were popular...
The
slave narrative is a literary form which grew out of the written accounts of enslaved Africans in
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
its coloniesThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
, including the later
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and
Caribbean The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
nations. Some six thousand former slaves from
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
and the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
gave accounts of their lives during the 18th and 19th centuries, with about 150 narratives published as separate books or pamphlets. In the 1930s in the United States, during the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, additional oral narratives on life during slavery were collected by writers sponsored and published by the
Works Progress AdministrationThe Works Progress Administration was the largest "New Deal" agency, employing millions of people and affecting almost every locality in the United States, especially rural and western mountain populations...
(WPA) of the President
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's administration.
Some of the earliest
memoirAs a literary genre, a memoir , forms a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable in modern parlance. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir, as listed here...
s of enslavement were written by white Europeans and
AmericansThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
captured and enslaved in
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
, usually by Barbary pirates. These were part of a broad category of "captivity narratives", which later included accounts by colonists and American settlers in North America and the United States who were captured and held by
Native AmericansThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
. Several well-known ones were published before the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
. Later accounts were by Americans captured by western tribes during 19th century migrations.
In addition, the division between slaves and prisoners of war, for example, was not always clear. A broader name for the
genreA genre is a loose set of criteria for a category of composition; the term is often used to categorize literature and speech, but is also used for any other form of art or utterance...
is "captivity literature". As more attention is paid to the problem of contemporary slavery in the 20th and 21st centuries, additional slave narratives are written and published.
North American slave narratives
Slave narratives by slaves from North America were first published in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the 18th century, and they soon became a mainstay of African-American literature. Slave narratives were publicized by abolitionists. During the first half of the 19th century, the controversy over slavery in the United States led to impassioned literature on both sides of the issue. In addition to first-person accounts, novels such as
Uncle Tom's CabinUncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the United States, so much in the latter case that the novel intensified the...
(1852) represented the abolitionist view of the evils of slavery. The so-called anti-Tom novels by
whiteWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
,
southern writersSouthern literature is defined as American literature about the Southern United States or by writers from this region...
, such as
William Gilmore SimmsWilliam Gilmore Simms was a poet, novelist and historian from the American South whose novels achieved great prominence during the 19th century, with Edgar Allan Poe pronouncing him the best novelist America had ever produced...
, represented the pro-slavery viewpoint.
To present the reality of slavery, a number of former slaves such as Harriet Jacobs and
Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, (born circa 1818 February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer...
published accounts of their enslavement. Eventually some six thousand former slaves from North America and the Caribbean wrote accounts of their lives, with about 150 of these published as separate books or pamphlets.
These can be broadly categorized into three distinct forms: tales of religious redemption, tales to inspire the abolitionist struggle, and tales of progress. The tales written to inspire the abolitionist struggle are the most famous because they tend to have a strong autobiographical motif, such as in
Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, (born circa 1818 February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer...
's autobiographies and
Incidents in the Life of a Slave GirlIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a book that was published in 1861 by Harriet Jacobs, using the pen name "Linda Brent". While on one level it chronicles the experiences of Harriet Jacobs as a slave, and the various humiliations she had to endure in that unhappy state, it also deals with...
by Harriet Jacobs (1861).
Tales of religious redemption
From the 1770s to the 1820s, the slave narratives generally gave an account of a spiritual journey leading to
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
redemption. The authors usually characterized themselves as Africans rather than slaves.
Examples include:
- A Narrative of the Most remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert 'Ukawsaw Gronniosaw', an African Prince, by Ukawsaw Gronniosaw
Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, also known as James Albert, was a freed slave and autobiographer. His autobiography is considered the first published by an African in Britain.-The autobiography:...
, Bath, England: 1772
- The Interesting Narrative and the life of 'Olaudah Equiano' or Gustavus Vassa, the African, by Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano , also known as Gustavus Vassa, was one of the most prominent Africans involved in the British movement of the abolition for the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through the Slave Trade...
, London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
: 1789
- A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a native of Africa: But resident Above Sixty Years in the United State of America, by Venture Smith
Venture Smith was an African captive brought to the American colonies as a child. His history was documented when he gave a narrative of his life to a schoolteacher, who wrote it down and published it under the title A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But...
, New LondonNew London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut.The city is home to Connecticut College, Mitchell...
: 1798
- The Blind African Slave, Or Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace, by Jeffrey Brace as told to Benjamin F. Prentiss, Esq., St. Albans, Vermont
Places named St. Albans, Vermont:*St. Albans , Vermont, town in Franklin County, Vermont*St. Albans , Vermont, city in Franklin County, Vermont...
: 1810; edited and with an introduction by Kari J. Winter, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin PressThe University of Wisconsin Press is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It primarily publishes work by scholars from the global academic community but also serves the citizens of Wisconsin by publishing important books about Wisconsin, the Upper Midwest, and...
, 2004, ISBN 0299201406)
Tales to inspire the abolitionist struggle
From the mid-1820s the genre became much more the conscious use of the autobiographical form to generate enthusiasms for the abolitionist struggle. They became more literary in form often with the introduction of fictionalized dialogue. Between 1835 and 1865 over 80 such narratives were published. Recurrent features include: slave auctions, the break-up of families and frequently two accounts of escapes, one of which is successful.
Examples include:
- Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave, New York
New York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
1825
- The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave, London
[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
1831
- Slavery in the United States: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Charles Ball, A Black Man, Lewistown 1836
- A Narrative of Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper from American Slavery, London
[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
1837
- A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Boston 1845
- Narratives of the Sufferings of Lewis and Milton Clarke, Sons of a Soldier of the revolution, during a Captivity of more than Twenty years among the Slaveholders of Kentucky, Boston 1846
- Narrative of William Wells Brown, a fugitive Slave, Boston 1847
- The Life of Josiah Henson, formerly a Slave, now an Inhabitant of Canada, Boston 1849
- Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, New York
New York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
1849
- The Fugitive Blacksmith, or Events in the History of James W. C. Pennington, London
[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
1849
- Twelve Years a Slave
Twelve Years a Slave is the written work of Solomon Northup; a man who was born free, but was bound into slavery later in life.The book, which was originally published in 1853, tells the story...
, narrative of Solomon NorthupSolomon Northup was a free-born African-American mulatto from New York, best known for his 1853 autobiography, Twelve Years a Slave....
, Auburn, BuffaloBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, second only to New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River, Buffalo is the principal city of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area and the seat of Erie...
and London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
1853
- Slave Life in Georgia: A Narrative of the Life, Sufferings and Escape of John Brown, London
[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
1855 ISBN 0-8369-8865-5
- The Life of John Thompson, A Fugitive Slave, Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city in the state of Massachusetts in the United States of America. Having a population of 172,648 in the 2000 census, Worcester is ranked the second or third largest city in New England. It is the county seat of Worcester County....
1855
- The Kidnapped and the Ransomed, Being the Personal Recollections of Peter Still and his Wife "Vina," after Forty Years of Slavery, by Kate E. R. Pickard, New York, 1856
- Running a thousand Miles for Freedom, or the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery, London
[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
1860
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a book that was published in 1861 by Harriet Jacobs, using the pen name "Linda Brent". While on one level it chronicles the experiences of Harriet Jacobs as a slave, and the various humiliations she had to endure in that unhappy state, it also deals with...
, by Harriet Jacobs, Boston 1861
- The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina by John Andrew Jackson
John Andrew Jackson was born on a plantation in Sumter County, South Carolina. His grandfather was a stolen slave from Africa. John Andrew's mother was named Betty and his father was known as Dr. Clavern, because of his ability to cure snake bites. John Andrew had five brothers and five sisters...
, London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
1862
- Narrative of the Life of J. D. Green, a Runaway Slave from Kentucky, Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city.Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme...
1864
- Mary Reynolds (ex-slave) Louisiana
The State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, 1827
Tales of progress
Following the defeat of the slave states of the
Confederate SouthThe Confederate States of America was a separatist political entity existing between 1861 to 1865, established by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America, each of which had previously declared their secession from the United States...
, the narratives lost their urgency and were less concerned with conveying the evils of slavery. Some times they even gave a sentimental account of plantation life and also often ended with the narrator adjusting to their new life of freedom. In this the emphasis frequently shifted conceptually more towards progress than
freedomPolitical freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression.The opposite of a free society is a totalitarian state, which highly restricts political freedom in order to regulate almost every aspect of behavior...
.
Examples include:
- The Life of James Mars, A Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut, Hartford
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located in Hartford County on the Connecticut River, north of the center of the state, south of Springfield, Massachusetts. Its 2006 population of 124,512 ranks Hartford as the state's second-largest city, after Bridgeport. New...
1864
- From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or, Struggles for Freedom, by Lucy Delaney
Lucy Delaney was an African-American author and former slave, remembered for her inspiring 1891 narrative From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or, Struggles for Freedom. The memoir recounts her mother Polly Berry's struggle for her own and her daughter's freedom from slavery, as she was freeborn...
1892
- The Freedman's Story by William Parker
-Sportsmen:* Tony Parker, William Anthony Parker II, , Belgian basketball player* Smush Parker , American basketball player* William Parker , British rower and Olympic medalist*Will Parker, rugby union player...
, published in The Atlantic MonthlyThe Atlantic is an American magazine founded as The Atlantic Monthly in Boston in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. Though based in Boston, it quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and...
1866
- Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom by Louis Hughes, Milwaukee 1897
- Up From Slavery
Up from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his slow and steady rise from a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton University, to his work establishing vocational schools—most notably the...
by Booker T. WashingtonBooker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, orator, author, presidential advisor, and the dominant leader of the nation's African-American community from the 1890s to his death. Born into slavery and freed by the Civil War in 1865, he led the new Tuskegee Institute, then a teachers'...
Garden City, New YorkGarden City is a village in the Town of Hempstead in central Nassau County, New York, in the United States. It was founded by multi-millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart in 1869, and is located on Long Island, to the east of New York City, from mid-town Manhattan, and just south of the Town of...
1901
WPA slave narratives
During the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
the
New DealThe New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to his complex package of economic programs 1933-36 with the goals of what historians call the 3 Rs, of giving Relief to the unemployed and badly hurt farmers, Reform of business and financial practices, and promoting...
Works Projects Administration (WPA) used unemployed writers and researchers from the
Federal Writers' ProjectThe Federal Writers' Project was a United States federal government project to fund written work and support writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal program...
to interview and document the stories of surviving African-Americans who had been part of the American slave system up until the
Thirteenth AmendmentThe Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was adopted on December 6, 1865, and was then declared in a proclamation of Secretary of State William H...
. Produced between 1936 and 1938, the narratives retell the experiences of more than 2,300 former slaves.
North African slave narratives
In comparison to North American and Caribbean slave narratives, the North African slave narratives were written by
whiteWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
ans and
AmericansNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
captured and enslaved in North Africa in the 18th and early 19th centuries. They have a distinct form in that they highlight the otherness of their
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
ic enslavers, whereas the African American slave narratives call their fellow
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
enslavers to account.
Examples include:
- The History of the Long Captivity and Adventures of Thomas Pellow, In South Barbary, 1740
- A Curious, Historical and Entertaining Narrative of the Captivity and almost unheard of Sufferings and Cruel treatment of Mr Robert White, 1790
- A Journal of the Captivity and Suffering of John Foss; Several Years a Prisoner in Algiers 1798
- History of the Captivity and Sufferings of Mrs Marian Martin who was six years a slave in Algiers, 1810
- History of the Captivity and Sufferings of Mrs Lucinda Martin who was six years a slave in Algiers, 1806
- The Narrative of Robert Adams, An American Sailor who was wrecked on the West Coast of Africa in the year 1810; was detained Three Years in Slavery by the Arabs of the Great Desert, 1817
Other historical slave narratives
As slavery has been practised all over the world for millennia, some narratives cover places and times other than these main two. One example is the account given by
John R. JewittJohn Rodgers Jewitt was an armourer who entered the historical record with his memoirs about the 28 months he spent as a captive of Maquinna of the Nuu-chah-nulth people on the Pacific coast of what is now Canada...
, an English armourer enslaved for years by Maquina of the
NootkaNootka may refer to:* The Nuu-chah-nulth indigenous peoples and their Nuu-chah-nulth language.* The place called Nootka Sound.* The island known as Nootka Island....
people in the
Pacific NorthwestThe Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America, bound by the Pacific Ocean to the west. There are several partially overlapping definitions of the region, but they generally include the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, and...
. The
Canadian Encyclopedia calls his memoir a "classic of captivity literature" and it is a rich source of information about the indigenous people of
Vancouver IslandVancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada, one of several North American regions named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific coast of North America between 1791 and 1794....
.
- Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the savages of Nootka Sound: with an account of the manners, mode of living, and religious opinions of the natives. Middletown, Connecticut, printed by Loomis and Richards, 1815. Full digital text available here.
Contemporary slave narratives
A contemporary slave narrative is a memoir published now, written by a former slave, or ghost-written on their behalf.
Examples include:
- Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity - and My Journey to Freedom in America (2003) by Francis Bok
Francis Piol Bol Bok , a Dinka tribesman and native of Sudan, was a slave for ten years but is now an abolitionist and author living in the United States. On May 15, 1986, he was captured and enslaved at age seven during an Arab militia raid on the village of Nymlal in Southern Sudan during the...
and Edward Tivnan
- Restavec by Jean-Robert Cadet vividly recounted his life as a restavec
A restavec is a child in Haiti sent by their parents to live with someone else because the parents lack the resources required to support the child. As part of the arrangement, the child is expected to work for the host family. In some cases, the child is treated well. However, in other cases,...
in Haiti
- "Peter's story", by Peter Doyle, in A tribute to The Lost People of Arlington House, The National Archives, London 2004
- Slave by Mende Nazer
Mende Nazer is a British author and was a slave in Sudan. She was made famous by her transfer to England to serve a diplomatic family.Mende Nazer reports that she was abducted and sold into slavery in Sudan when she was a child of twelve or thirteen . She lived in a village of the Karko Nuba in the...
and Damien Lewis
Neo-slave narratives
A neo-slave narrative is an account of slavery written in contemporary times. The authors use their imagination, oral histories, and already-existing slave narratives to construct these stories. They are not writing of their own experiences, or acting as an
amanuensisAmanuensis [ipa: əˌmænjuˈɛnsɪs] is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
for a former slave. They may be classified as
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s.
Examples include:
- Octavia E. Butler
Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant.-Biography:Butler was...
's KindredKindred is a 1979 novel by Octavia Butler. While most of Butler's work is classified as science fiction, Kindred is often shelved in literature or African-American literature and Butler herself categorized it as "a kind of grim fantasy" ....
- David Anthony Durham
David Anthony Durham has thus far built his reputation as an historical novelist. His first novel, Gabriel's Story, centered on African American settlers in the American West. Walk Through Darkness followed a runaway slave during the tense times leading up to the American Civil War...
's Walk Through DarknessWalk Through Darkness is a critically acclaimed 2002 novel by American author David Anthony Durham.- Publication details :*Written by David Anthony Durham*First published: Doubleday, United States, 2002.*Also published in Portuguese...
- Marie-Elena John
Marie-Elena John is a Caribbean writer whose first novel, Unburnable, was published in 2006. She was born and raised in Antigua and is a former development specialist of the African Development Foundation, the World Council of Churches’ Program to Combat Racism, and Global Rights , where she...
's UnburnableUnburnable, a novel published in 2006 by HarperCollins/Amistad, was penned by Caribbean writer Marie-Elena John , who spent a career as an Africa Development specialist in New York and Washington, D.C. prior to turning to writing. Unburnable is her debut novel...
- Edward P. Jones
Edward P. Jones is an African American author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Born in 1951, he was raised in Washington, D.C. and educated at both the College of the Holy Cross and the University of Virginia.-Career:...
' The Known WorldThe Known World is a 2003 historical novel by Edward P. Jones. It was his first novel and second book. Set in antebellum Virginia, it examines issues regarding the ownership of black slaves by free black people as well as by whites...
- Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed black characters...
's BelovedBeloved is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. The novel, her fifth, is loosely based on the life and legal case of the slave Margaret Garner, about whom Morrison later wrote in the opera Margaret Garner...
- William Styron
William Clark Styron, Jr. was an American novelist and essayist who won major literary awards for his work.For much of his career, Styron was best known for his novels, which included...
's Confessions of Nat Turner
- Margaret Walker
Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander was an African-American poet and writer. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, she wrote as Margaret Walker. One of her best-known poems is For My People.-Biography:...
's JubileeJubilee is a historical novel written by Margaret Walker, which focuses on the story of a biracial slave during the American Civil War. It is set in Georgia and later in various parts of Alabama in the mid-1800s before, during, and after the Civil War.-Plot summary:The novel begins with the death...
See also
- African American literature
African-American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. The genre traces its origins to the works of such late 18th century writers as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano, reaching early high points with slave narratives and the Harlem...
- Caribbean literature
- Lucinda Davis
Lucinda Davis was a slave who grew up in the Creek Indian culture. Her date of birth was near the year 1848, and she died after 1937. One source hinted that her death took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, under the care of her daughter. She spoke the Muskogee Creek language fluently...
- Moses Roper
Moses Roper was a mulatto slave who wrote one of the major early books about life as a slave in the United States — Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper from American Slavery.-Life as a slave:...
- William J. Anderson
William J. Anderson was born June 2,1811 to Susan and Lewis Anderson. William’s mother was a free woman, but his father was a slave, belonging to a Mr. Shelton. Later in William’s life he wrote a narrative about himself which was published by the Chicago Daily Tribune and entitled:After the death...
- J Vance Lewis
- Jared Maurice Arter
Jared Maurice Arter was born into slavery on January 27, 1850 in Jefferson County, West Virginia. His father was Jeremiah Arter, who was not very present in Jared’s life because of his slave status and his work in the mills in Jefferson County. When Jared was about seven, his father died after...
External links
- Life of James Mars, A Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut. Written by Himself. Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Company, 1864.
- Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 on loc.gov
- North American Slave Narratives, Beginnings to 1920 on docsouth.unc.edu
- Robert E. Lee's Slave
- Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology oral histories of former U.S. slaves collected in the 1930s by the WPA from American Studies at the University of Virginia
- eTexts of oral history of former U.S. slaves collected in the 1930s by the WPA, at Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain...
- Brief Description of the American Slave Narrative at the Literary Movements site
- Audio presentation and podcast of slave narratives at Museum of the African Diaspora
- Review Essay: Francis Bok's Escape from Slavery and Contemporary Slave Narratives by Joe Lockhard, June 2004