Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave

Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Slavery
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Narrative of the author's experiences as a slave in St. Louis and elsewhere.

Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave

Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Slavery
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Narrative of the author's experiences as a slave in St. Louis and elsewhere.

From Fugitive Slave to Free Man

From Fugitive Slave to Free Man PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 9780826214751
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
William Wells Brown spent the first twenty years of his life mainly in St. Louis and the surrounding areas working as a house servant, field hand, a tavern keeper's assistant, a printer's helper, an assistant in a medical office, and a handyman for James Walker, a Missouri slave trader. During his time with Walker, Brown made three trips up and down the Mississippi River. These trips allowed him to encounter slavery from every perspective and provided experiences he would draw on throughout his writing career.

Narrative of William W. Brown, an American slave

Narrative of William W. Brown, an American slave PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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My Southern Home

My Southern Home PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave: Written by Himself

Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave: Written by Himself PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781470169077
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
I WAS born in Lexington, Ky. The man who stole me as soon as I was born, recorded the births of all the infants which he claimed to be born his property, in a book which he kept for that purpose. My mother's name was Elizabeth. She had seven children, viz: Solomon, Leander, Benjamin, Joseph, Millford, Elizabeth, and myself. No two of us were children of the same father. My father's name, as I learned from my mother, was George Higgins. He was a white man, a relative of my master, and connected with some of the first families in Kentucky. My master owned about forty slaves, twenty-five of whom were field hands. He removed from Kentucky to Missouri, when I was quite young, and settled thirty or forty miles above St. Charles, on the Missouri, where, in addition to his practice as a physician, he carried on milling, merchandizing and farming. He had a large farm, the principal productions of which were tobacco and hemp. The slave cabins were situated on the back part of the farm, with the house of the overseer, whose name was Grove Cook, in their midst. He had the entire charge of the farm, and having no family, was allowed a woman to keep house for him, whose business it was to deal out the provisions for the hands. A woman was also kept at the quarters to do the cooking for the field hands, who were summoned to their unrequited toil every morning at four o'clock, by the ringing of a bell, hung on a post near the house of the overseer. They were allowed half an hour to eat their breakfast, and get to the field. At half past four, a horn was blown by the overseer, which was the signal to commence work; and every one that was not on the spot at the time, had to receive ten lashes from the negro-whip, with which the overseer always went armed. The handle was about three feet long, with the butt-end filled with lead, and the lash six or seven feet in length, made of cowhide, with platted wire on the end of it. This whip was put in requisition very frequently and freely, and a small offence on the part of a slave furnished an occasion for its use. During the time that Mr. Cook was overseer, I was a house servant--a situation preferable to that of a field hand, as I was better fed, better clothed, and not obliged to rise at the ringing of the bell, but about half an hour after. I have often laid and heard the crack of the whip, and the screams of the slave. My mother was a field hand, and one morning was ten or fifteen minutes behind the others in getting into the field. As soon as she reached the spot where they were at work, the overseer commenced whipping her. She cried, "Oh! pray--Oh! pray--Oh! pray"--these are generally the words of slaves, when imploring mercy at the hands of their oppressors. I heard her voice, and knew it, and jumped out of my bunk, and went to the door. Though the field was some distance from the house, I could hear every crack of the whip, and every groan and cry of my poor mother. I remained at the door, not daring to venture any farther. The cold chills ran over me, and I wept aloud. After giving her ten lashes, the sound of the whip ceased, and I returned to my bed, and found no consolation but in my tears. It was not yet daylight.

The Black Man

The Black Man PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description


William Wells Brown: An African American Life

William Wells Brown: An African American Life PDF Author: Ezra Greenspan
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393242005
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist 'Biography' A groundbreaking biography of the most pioneering and accomplished African-American writer of the nineteenth century. Born into slavery in Kentucky, raised on the Western frontier on the farm adjacent to Daniel Boone’s, “rented” out in adolescence to a succession of steamboat captains on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the young man known as “Sandy” reinvented himself as “William Wells” Brown after escaping to freedom. He lifted himself out of illiteracy and soon became an innovative, widely admired, and hugely popular speaker on antislavery circuits (both American and British) and went on to write the earliest African American works in a plethora of genres: travelogue, novel (the now canonized Clotel), printed play, and history. He also practiced medicine, ran for office, and campaigned for black uplift, temperance, and civil rights. Ezra Greenspan’s masterful work, elegantly written and rigorously researched, sets Brown’s life in the richly rendered context of his times, creating a fascinating portrait of an inventive writer who dared to challenge the racial orthodoxies and explore the racial complexities of nineteenth-century America.

The Escape

The Escape PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Abolitionists
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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The Narrative of William W. Brown (EasyRead Super Large 20pt Edition)

The Narrative of William W. Brown (EasyRead Super Large 20pt Edition) PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1442901543
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description


The Escape, Or, A Leap for Freedom

The Escape, Or, A Leap for Freedom PDF Author: William Wells Brown
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN: 9781572331051
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
A well-known nineteenth-century abolitionist and former slave, William Wells Brown was a prolific writer and lecturer who captivated audiences with readings of his drama The Escape; or, a Leap for Freedom (1858). The first published play by an African American writer, The Escape explored the complexities of American culture at a time when tensions between North and South were about to explode into the Civil War. This new volume presents the first-edition text of Brown's play and features an extensive introduction that establishes the work's continuing significance. The Escape centers on the attempted sexual violation of a slave and involves many characters of mixed race, through which Brown commented on such themes as moral decay, white racism, and black self-determination. Rich in action and faithful in dialect, it raises issues relating not only to race but also to gender by including concepts of black and white masculinity and the culture of southern white and enslaved women. It portrays a world in which slavery provided a convenient means of distinguishing between the white North and the white South, allowing northerners to express moral sentiments without recognizing or addressing the racial prejudice pervasive among whites in both regions. John Ernest's introductory essay balances the play's historical and literary contexts, including information on Brown and his career, as well as on slavery, abolitionism, and sectional politics. It also discusses the legends and realities of the Underground Railroad, examines the role of antebellum performance art--including blackface minstrelsy and stage versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin--in the construction of race and national identity, and provides an introduction to theories of identity as performance. A century and a half after its initial appearance, The Escape remains essential reading for students of African American literature. Ernest's keen analysis of this classic play will enrich readers' appreciation of both the drama itself and the era in which it appeared. The Editor: John Ernest is an associate professor of English at the University of New Hampshire and author of Resistance and Reformation in Nineteenth-Century African-American Literature: Brown, Wilson, Jacobs, Delany, Douglass, and Harper.