I was born a slave : an anthology of classic slave narratives / edited by Yuval Taylor ; foreword by Charles Johnson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Taylor, Yuval.

James A. Crawford Memorial Fund.

Series:

Library of Black America

The library of Black America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Enslaved persons--United States--Biography.

Enslaved persons.

United States.

African Americans--Biography.

African Americans.

Enslaved persons' writings, American.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

2 volumes : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : Lawrence Hill Books, [1999]

Summary:

Between 1760 and 1902, more than 200 book-length autobiographies of ex-slaves were published; together they form the basis for all subsequent African America literature. I Was Born a Slave collects the 20 most significant "slave narratives".

They describe whippings, torture, starvation, resistance, and hair-breadth escapes; slave auctions, kidnappings, and murders; sexual abuse, religious confusion, the struggle of learning to read and write; and the triumphs and difficulties of life as free men and women. Many of the narratives -- such as those of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs -- have achieved reputations as masterpieces; but some of the lesser-known narratives are equally brilliant. This unprecedented anthology presents them unabridged, providing each one with helpful introductions and annotations, to form the most comprehensive volume ever assembled on the lives and writings of the slaves.

Contents:

v. 1. 1772-1849

v. 2. 1849-1866.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (volume 1, pages [757]-764 ; volume 2., pages 789-796).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the James A. Crawford Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

1556523351

1556523319

1556523343

1556523327

155652336X

1556523335

OCLC:

40218715