I Was Born a Slave: An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives: 1849-1866

Description

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.

Charles Owen Johnson developed an interest in family history by listening to the stories of his great-aunt. An attorney by profession, Johnson served as first editor of Hereditary Register of the United States of America. He was the governor general of the Plymouth Hereditary Society, has been the president of the Louisiana Chapter of the National Huguenot Society, and is a member of dozens of organizations, among them the Round Table Club of New Orleans. Listed in Who's Who in the World and the Blue Book of Washington, D.C., Johnson received a B.A. from Tulane University, LL.B. from Harvard Law School, J.D. from Tulane Law School, and LL.M. from Columbia Law School. A Louisiana native, Johnson was born in Monroe, Louisiana.