North Carolina Slave Narratives: The Lives of Moses Roper, Lunsford Lane, Moses Grandy, and Thomas H. JonesWilliam L. Andrews The autobiographies of former slaves contributed powerfully to the abolitionist movement in the United States, fanning national--even international--indignation against the evils of slavery. The four texts gathered here are all from North Carolina slaves and are among the most memorable and influential slave narratives published in the nineteenth century. The writings of Moses Roper (1838), Lunsford Lane (1842), Moses Grandy (1843), and the Reverend Thomas H. Jones (1854) provide a moving testament to the struggles of enslaved people to affirm their human dignity and ultimately seize their liberty. Introductions to each narrative provide biographical and historical information as well as explanatory notes. Andrews's general introduction to the collection reveals that these narratives not only helped energize the abolitionist movement but also laid the groundwork for an African American literary tradition that inspired such novelists as Toni Morrison and Charles Johnson. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 24
Page 2
... antebellum era.4 Walker indicted American slavery as nothingless than a monumental and historically unparalleled crime against humanity, for which white Americanswouldalmostcertainlyatonewiththeirblood.Thedutyofblackpeople ...
... antebellum era.4 Walker indicted American slavery as nothingless than a monumental and historically unparalleled crime against humanity, for which white Americanswouldalmostcertainlyatonewiththeirblood.Thedutyofblackpeople ...
Page 12
... antebellum slave narratives remained in print after the downfall of slavery. That Jones's autobiography continued to thrive makes it one of the most long-lived of all the slave narratives published in the nineteenth century. A likely ...
... antebellum slave narratives remained in print after the downfall of slavery. That Jones's autobiography continued to thrive makes it one of the most long-lived of all the slave narratives published in the nineteenth century. A likely ...
Page 13
... antebellum South accorded believers like Thomas Jones. Prior to 1885, Jones's autobiographies depict his life in slavery as progressing from the acquisition of literacy through conversion to Christianity tomarriageandultimatefreedom ...
... antebellum South accorded believers like Thomas Jones. Prior to 1885, Jones's autobiographies depict his life in slavery as progressing from the acquisition of literacy through conversion to Christianity tomarriageandultimatefreedom ...
Page 15
... antebellum trials and postbellum triumphs well into the twentieth century. Except for Friday Jones's self-published narrative,Days of Bondage(1883), and William Henry Singleton's Recollections of My Slavery Days (1922), however ...
... antebellum trials and postbellum triumphs well into the twentieth century. Except for Friday Jones's self-published narrative,Days of Bondage(1883), and William Henry Singleton's Recollections of My Slavery Days (1922), however ...
Page 16
... Antebellum Slave Resistance (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997). 5. See Catherine Bishir, ''Black Builders in Antebellum North Carolina,'' North Carolina Historical Review61 (October 1984): 422–62; Gale Farlow ...
... Antebellum Slave Resistance (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997). 5. See Catherine Bishir, ''Black Builders in Antebellum North Carolina,'' North Carolina Historical Review61 (October 1984): 422–62; Gale Farlow ...
Contents
1 | |
A Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of MOSES ROPER Introduction | 23 |
Narrative | 35 |
The Narrative of LUNSFORD LANE Introduction | 79 |
Narrative | 93 |
Narrative of the Life of MOSES GRANDY Introduction | 133 |
Narrative | 153 |
The Experience of REV THOMAS H JONES Introduction | 189 |
Narrative | 203 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abolitionists African American American Anti-Slavery Society antebellum antislavery asked autobiography blessed bondage Boston British brother captain Caswell County Christian church colored County cruel David Walker dear wife dollars Douglass edition escape father feel flogged Frederick Douglass freedom friends fugitive slave gave George Moses Horton Gooch Grandy’s hands Haywood heart Henry Box Brown hope John Scoble Jones Jones’s narrative kind knew labor Lane’s learn to read letter lived Lunsford Lane master meeting miles mistress morning Moses Grandy Moses Roper mother narrator negro never night North Carolina o’clock overseer passed person plantation pray prayer preached published purchase Raleigh readers replied sell sister slave narratives slaveholders slavery Smith sold soon South story tell Thomas H thought told took Trewitt wanted whipped wife’s William Wilmington woods write York