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An important work of 19th century American literature. It is a highly symbolic play that serves to critique the enslavement of African Americans and express Brown's notions of emancipation. Through his use of elaborate metaphors and allusions, Brown articulates the sentiments of both the oppressed and oppressor, thereby creating a drama that examines social injustice from multiple perspectives.
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Excerpt: "The writer of this Narrative was hired by his master to a "soul-driver," and has witnessed all the horrors of the traffic, from the buying up of human cattle in the slave-breeding States, which produced a constant scene of separating the victims from all those whom they loved, to their final sale in the southern market, to be worked up in seven years, or given over to minister to the lust of southern Christians. Many harrowing scenes are...
3) Clotel
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First published in 1853 amidst rumors that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with one of his slaves, Clotel is a fictional chronicle of one such child. After Jefferson's death, his mistress and her two daughters are auctioned. One daughter, Clotel, is purchased by a white man from Virginia who impregnates her. Despite the promise of marriage, Clotel is instead sold to another man and separated from her daughter. After escaping from the slave dealer,...
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Excerpt: "Thirty years ago, a young colored man came to my father's house at Aurora, Erie County, New York, to deliver a lecture on the subject of American Slavery, and the following morning I sat upon his knee, while he told me the story of his life and escape from the South. Although a boy of eight years, I still remember the main features of the narrative, and the impression it made upon my mind, and the talk the lecture of the previous night created...
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By 1849, the Narrative of William W. Brown was in its fourth edition, having sold over 8,000 copies in less than eighteen months and making it one of the fastest-selling antislavery tracts of its time. The book's popularity can be attributed both to the strong voice of its author and Brown's notoriety as an abolitionist speaker. The son of a slave and a white man, Brown recounts his years in servitude, his cruel masters, and the brutal whippings he...
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Born into slavery, Clotel is a white-passing woman who conceals her identity and uses a disguise to infiltrate a plantation to rescue her loved ones. It's a story of survival that's deeply rooted in the cruelest part of American history.
Clotel and Althesa are the illegitimate daughters of Thomas Jefferson and a slave woman named Currer. Despite their father's elite status, the girls are sold into slavery but attempt to use their fair complexions...
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The culmination of William Wells Brown's long writing career, My Southern Home is the story of Brown's search for a home in a land of slavery and racism. Brown (1814-84), a prolific and celebrated abolitionist and writer often recognized as the first African American novelist for his Clotel (1853), was born enslaved in Kentucky and escaped to Ohio in 1834. In this comprehensive edition, John Ernest acts as a surefooted guide to this seminal work,...
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A former slave writes of his experiences. Excerpt: "I was born in Lexington, Kentucky, one of the Western slave states. My mother was the slave of Dr. John Young: my father was a slaveholder and a relative of my master. Dr. Young was the owner of from forty to fifty slaves, most of whom were field hands. I have no recollection of Kentucky, as my master removed from that state, during my infancy, to a large plantation, which he had purchased, near...
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Excerpt: "I now undertake to write a history of the part which the colored men took in the great American Rebellion. Previous to entering upon that subject, however, I may be pardoned for bringing before the reader the condition of the blacks previous to the breaking out of the war. The Declaration of American Independence, made July 4, 1776, had scarcely, been enunciated, and an organization of the government commenced, ere the people found themselves...
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Excerpt: "A narrative of the life of the author of the present work has been most extensively circulated in England and America. The present memoir will, therefore, simply comprise a brief sketch of the most interesting portion of Mr. Brown's history while in America, together with a short account of his subsequent cisatlantic career. The publication of his adventures as a slave, and as a fugitive from slavery in his native land, has been most valuable...
12) The Black Man
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Excerpt: "The calumniators and traducers of the Negro are to be found, mainly, among two classes. The first and most relentless are those who have done them the greatest injury, by being instrumental in their enslavement and consequent degradation. They delight to descant upon the "natural inferiority" of the blacks, and claim that we were destined only for a servile condition, entitled neither to liberty nor the legitimate pursuit of happiness. The...
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Originally published in 1847, William W. Brown offers a first-person narrative that details his enslavement and the daring escape that ultimately led to his freedom. It's a captivating tale and testament to the perseverance and strength of the human spirit. In this narrative, William W. Brown presents the true story of his birth and life as an enslaved African American. He provides a truthful look at his origins, noting the unfortunate dynamic between...
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Thirteen years ago, I came to your door, a weary fugitive from chains and stripes. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was hungry, and you fed me. Naked was I, and you clothed me. Even a name by which to be known among men, slavery had denied me. You bestowed upon me your own. Base indeed should I be, if I ever forget what I owe to you, or do anything to disgrace that honored name!
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