I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives: 1849-1866 (The Library of Black America series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1556523351 ISBN 13: 9781556523359

Publisher: Chicago Review Press, 1999

Synopsis

Between 1760 and 1902, more than 200 book-length autobiographies of ex-slaves were published; together they form the basis for all subsequent African American literature. I Was Born a Slave collects the 20 most significant slave narratives.” They describe whippings, torture, starvation, resistance, and hairbreadth 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.

Volume two (1849 1866) includes the narratives of Henry Bibb, James W. C. Pennington, Solomon Northup, John Brown, John Thompson, William and Ellen Craft, Harriet Jacobs (Linda Brent), Jacob D. Green, James Mars, and William Parker.

About this title

About the Author:

Yuval Taylor is the coauthor of Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music and the editor of Growing Up in Slavery: Stories of Young Slaves as Told by Themselves.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1556523351
• ISBN 13: 9781556523359
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 832
• Editor: Taylor Yuval