Mary Prince

Straightforward, yet often poetic accounts of the battle for freedom, three memoirs by courageous black women vividly chronicle their struggles in the bonds of slavery, their rebellion against degrading injustice, and their determination to attain racial equality. In Narrative of Sojourner Truth, one of the most important documents on slavery ever written, a passionate African American abolitionist and champion of women's rights tells of her life as a slave, her self-liberation, and her tireless campaign for racial and sexual equality. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the 1861 autobiographical account of the brutality of slave life by Harriet Jacobs, who speaks frankly of her master's abuse and her eventual escape, in a tale of dauntless spirit and faith. In The History of Mary Prince, the first black woman to escape from slavery in the British colonies and publish a record of her experiences vividly recalls her life in the West Indies, her rebellion against physical and psychological degradation, and her 1828 escape in England.

Born in Bermuda to a house slave in 1788, Mary Prince suffered the first of many soul-shattering experiences in her life when she was separated from her parents and siblings at the age of twelve. Subjected to bodily and sexual abuse by subsequent masters, she was bought and sold several times before she was ultimately freed. The first black woman to break the bonds of slavery in the British colonies and publish a record of her experiences, Prince vividly recalls her life in the West Indies, her rebellion against physical and psychological degradation, and her eventual escape in 1828 in England. Her straightforward, often poetic account of immense anguish, separation from her husband, and struggle for freedom inflamed public opinion during a period when stormy debates on abolition were common in both the United States and England. This edition also includes a substantial supplement by Thomas Pringle, the original editor, as well as another brief slave account: "The Narrative of Asa-Asa, a Captured African." Essential reading for students of African-American studies, Mary Prince's classic account of determination and endurance aids in filling the many gaps in black women's history.

The History of Mary Prince (1831) was the first narrative of a black woman to be published in Britain. It describes Prince's sufferings as a slave in Bermuda, Turks Island and Antigua, and her eventual arrival in London with her brutal owner Mr Wood in 1828. Prince escaped from him and sought assistance from the Anti-Slavery Society, where she dictated her remarkable story to Susanna Strickland (later Moodie). A moving and graphic document, The History drew attention to the continuation of slavery in the Caribbean, despite an 1807 Act of Parliament officially ending the slave trade. It inspired two libel actions and ran into three editions in the year of its publication. This powerful rallying cry for emancipation remains an extraordinary testament to Prince's ill-treatment, suffering and survival.