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 43
Page 1
... writing in colonial North America and the early Republic.1 Not until the 1830s, however, did the antislavery movement in the United States seek purposefully to enlist the talents and energies of black American writers in a national ...
... writing in colonial North America and the early Republic.1 Not until the 1830s, however, did the antislavery movement in the United States seek purposefully to enlist the talents and energies of black American writers in a national ...
Page 2
... writing of this document. African Americans chafed at this indifference on the part of the white friends of freedom and resented the assumption of leadership and spokesmen roles by white converts to antislavery.3 The first black-run ...
... writing of this document. African Americans chafed at this indifference on the part of the white friends of freedom and resented the assumption of leadership and spokesmen roles by white converts to antislavery.3 The first black-run ...
Page 3
... writer from North Carolina. A native of Wilmington, he was born free in a seaport city where slaves outnumbered whites ... write in Wilmington? Was Moses Grandy, enslaved captainofcanalboatsthatranbetweentheNorthCarolinacoastalportsofCam ...
... writer from North Carolina. A native of Wilmington, he was born free in a seaport city where slaves outnumbered whites ... write in Wilmington? Was Moses Grandy, enslaved captainofcanalboatsthatranbetweentheNorthCarolinacoastalportsofCam ...
Page 12
... write as a boy while working in his Wilmington master's general store. Nine years before Jones's narrative first appeared, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) had told a similar story of a slave boy who, in defiance ...
... write as a boy while working in his Wilmington master's general store. Nine years before Jones's narrative first appeared, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) had told a similar story of a slave boy who, in defiance ...
Page 14
... write a narrative about his or her life in bondage. One can find little evidence in the narratives of those who endured slavery that the degree of cruelty exacted by the system materially affected their desire for freedom or, having ...
... write a narrative about his or her life in bondage. One can find little evidence in the narratives of those who endured slavery that the degree of cruelty exacted by the system materially affected their desire for freedom or, having ...
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