I Was Born a Slave

An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives

Yuval Taylor

• Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books
• Year: 1999
• ISBN:
  9781613742082
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Slavery
• Index: Social Sciences

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.

SOLOMON NORTHUP

SOLOMON NORTHUP (1808-63), as the title page of his narrative indicates, was a free black man of New York who was kidnapped, sold, and held as a slave in one of the most remote regions of the South for a period of twelve years. His book, Twelve Years a Slave, is singular in a number of ways: it is perhaps the only slave narrative written from the perspective of a nonslave; it is one of the few to describe the condition of slaves in Louisiana; it combines a mastery of detail with a richness and strength of language rare in the narrative corpus; and it was one of the fastest selling and most popular—the first printing of eight thousand copies was sold within a month of publication, and over thirty thousand copies were sold altogether.¹

Northup’s tale proved unforgettable to his readers. As one of them, Frederick Douglass, said at the time,

It is a strange history; its truth is stranger than fiction. . . . Think of it: For thirty years a man, with all a man’s hopes, fears and aspirations—with a wife and children to call him by the endearing names of husband and father—with a home, humble it may be, but still a home . . . then for twelve years a thing, a chattel personal, classed with mules and horses. . . . Oh! it is horrible. It chills the blood to think that such are.²

Another reader, Harriet Beecher Stowe, read about Northup’s experiences in a long article published in The New York Times. She incorporated Northup’s story into The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, noting, “It is a singular coincidence that this man was carried to a plantation in the Red River country, that same region where the scene of Tom’s captivity was laid; and his account of this plantation, his mode of life there, and some incidents which he describes, form a striking parallel to that history.”³ Southerners, too, were impressed by Northup’s account— even Edwin Epps, Northup’s cruelest master, confessed the narrative’s truth to a Union soldier who searched him out during the Civil War.⁴

The narrative was written by David Wilson, a lawyer from the area of Northup’s home, Glen Falls, New York. Wilson was a newly elected member of the state legislature, a former superintendent of public schools, and the author of some poetry and local history. The two books he published besides Northup’s narrative also concerned local figures with bizarre pasts—one recounted an Indian massacre, the other detailed the life of an insane murderess. Unlike most of the slaves’ amanuenses, Wilson was not an active abolitionist; also unlike some others, he composed the book in his own style rather than shaping it according to Northup’s dictation, as a comparison of his books has shown.⁵ Wilson was faithful, however, to the facts of the story, as well as Northup’s sentiments: as Wilson’s preface attests, Northup, who was literate, had the opportunity to go over the manuscript carefully and correct anything that seemed inaccurate. At the same time, Wilson’s goal seems to have been to outdo the success of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which had been published the year before. This may help explain the presence in Twelve Years a Slave of some sentimental and stereotypical passages that seem to come straight out of Stowe.

Northup went on a lecture tour shortly after the book’s publication. A typical reaction was published in The Liberator in 1855:

Twelve Years a Slave has been widely read in New England, and no narrative of man’s experience as a slave . . . is more touching, or better calculated to expose the true character and designs of slaveholders. But it is far more potent to see the man, and hear him, in his clear, manly, straightforward way, speak of slavery as he experienced it, and as he saw it in others. Those who have read his Narrative can scarce fail to desire to see the man . . . and to hear his story from his own lips.⁶

Some time after the narrative was published, a perceptive reader brought to Northup’s attention the identity of the two men who kidnapped him and sold him into slavery. Unfortunately, when Northup attempted to prosecute the kidnappers, the trial bogged down in a maze of legal technicalities regarding questions of jurisdiction and the applicability of certain laws to the case. The culprits were never punished. With the three thousand dollars Northup had obtained from the sale of the copyright to his narrative, he purchased some property in Glen Falls and took up his old trade of carpentry.⁷

SOLOMON IN HIS PLANTATION SUIT.

TO
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

WHOSE NAME,

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, IS IDENTIFIED WITH THE

GREAT REFORM:

THIS NARRATIVE, AFFORDING ANOTHER

Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin,⁸

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

“Such dupes are men to custom, and so prone

To reverence what is ancient, and can plead

A course of long observance for its use,

That even servitude, the worst of ills,

Because delivered down from sire to son,

Is kept and guarded as a sacred thing.

But is it fit or can it bear the shock

Of rational discussion, that a man

Compounded and made up, like other men,

Of elements tumultuous, in whom lust

And folly in as ample measure meet,

As in the bosom of the slave he rules,

Should be a despot absolute, and boast

Himself the only freeman of his land?”

COWPER.⁹

CONTENTS.

Editor’s Preface

CHAPTER I.

Introductory—Ancestry—The Northup Family—Birth and Parentage—Mintus Northup—Marriage with Anne Hampton—Good Resolutions—Champlain Canal— Rafting Excursion to Canada—Farming—The Violin—Cooking—Removal to Saratoga—Parker and Perry—Slaves and Slavery—The Children—The Beginning of Sorrow,

CHAPTER II.

The two Strangers—The Circus Company—Departure from Saratoga—Ventriloquism and Legerdemain—Journey to New York—Free Papers—Brown and Hamilton—The haste to reach the Circus—Arrival in Washington—Funeral of Harrison— The Sudden Sickness—The Torment of Thirst—The Receding Light—Insensibility— Chains and Darkness,

CHAPTER III.

Painful Meditations—James H. Burch—Williams’ Slave Pen in Washington—The Lackey, Radburn—Assert my Freedom—The Anger of the Trader—The Paddle and Cat-o’-nine-tails—The Whipping—New Acquaintances—Ray, Williams, and Randall—Arrival of Little Emily and her Mother in the Pen—Maternal Sorrows—The Story of Eliza,

CHAPTER IV.

Eliza’s Sorrows—Preparation to Embark—Driven Through the Streets of Washington—Hail, Columbia—The Tomb of Washington—Clem Ray—The Breakfast on the Steamer—The happy Birds—Aquia Creek—Fredericksburgh—Arrival in Rich-mond—Goodin and his Slave Pen—Robert, of Cincinnati—David and his Wife— Mary and Lethe—Clem’s Return—His subsequent Escape to Canada—The Brig Orleans—James H. Burch,

CHAPTER V.

Arrival at Norfolk—Frederick and Maria—Arthur, the Freeman—Appointed Steward—Jim, Cuffee, and Jenny—The Storm—Bahama Banks—The Calm—The Con-spiracy—The Long Boat—The Small-Pox—Death of Robert—Manning, the Sailor— The Meeting in the Forecastle—The Letter—Arrival At New-Orleans—Arthur’s Rescue—Theophilus Freeman, the Consignee—Platt—First Night in the New-Orleans Slave Pen,

CHAPTER VI.

Freeman’s Industry—Cleanliness and Clothes—Exercising in the Show Room—The Dance—Bob, the Fiddler—Arrival of Customers—Slaves Examined—The Old Gentleman of New-Orleans—Sale of David, Caroline, and Lethe—Parting of Randall and Eliza—Small-Pox—The Hospital—Recovery and Return to Freeman’s Slave Pen—The Purchaser of Eliza, Harry, and Platt—Eliza’s Agony on Parting from Little Emily,

CHAPTER VII.

The Steamboat Rodolph—Departure from New-Orleans—William Ford—Arrival at Alexandra, on Red River—Resolutions—The Great Pine Woods—Wild Cattle— Martin’s Summer Residence—The Texas Road—Arrival at Master Ford’s—Rose— Mistress Ford—Sally and her Children—John, the Cook—Walter, Sam, and Antony—The Mills on Indian Creek—Sabbath Days—Sam’s Conversion—The Profit of Kindness—Rafting—Adam Taydem, the Little White Man—Cascalla and his Tribe—The Indian Ball—John M. Tibeats—The Storm approaching,

CHAPTER VIII.

Ford’s Embarrassments—The Sale to Tibeats—The Chattel Mortgage—Mistress Ford’s Plantation on Bayou Boeuf—Description of the Latter—Ford’s Brother-in-Law, Peter Tanner—Meeting with Eliza—She still Mourns for her Children—Ford’s Overseer, Chapin—Tibeats’ Abuse—The Keg of Nails—The First Fight with Tibeats—His Discomfiture and Castigation—The attempt to Hang me—Chapin’s Interference and Speech—Unhappy Reflections—Abrupt Departure of Tibeats, Cook, and Ramsey—Lawson and the Brown Mule—Message to the Pine Woods,

CHAPTER IX.

The Hot Sun—Yet bound—The Cords sink into my Flesh—Chapin’s Uneasiness— Speculation—Rachel, and her Cup of Water—Suffering increases—The Happiness of Slavery—Arrival of Ford—He cuts the Cords which bind me, and takes the Rope from my Neck—Misery—The gathering of Slaves in Eliza’s Cabin—Their Kindness—Rachel Repeats the Occurrences of the Day—Lawson entertains his Companions with an Account of his Ride—Chapin’s Apprehensions of Tibeats—Hired to Peter Tanner—Peter expounds the Scriptures—Description of the Stocks,

CHAPTER X.

Return of Tibeats—Impossibility of pleasing him—He attacks me with a Hatchet— The Struggle over the Broad Axe—The Temptation to Murder him—Escape across the Plantation—Observations from the Fence—Tibeats approaches, followed by the Hounds—They take my Track—Their loud Yells—They almost overtake me—I reach the Water—The Hounds confused—Moccasin Snakes—Alligators—Night in the “Great Pacoudrie Swamp”—The Sounds of Life—North-West Course—Emerge into the Pine Woods—Slave and his Young Master—Arrival At Ford’s—Food and Rest,

CHAPTER XI.

The Mistress’ Garden—The Crimson and Golden Fruit—Orange and Pomegranate Trees—Return to Bayou Boeuf—Master Ford’s Remarks on the way—The Meeting with Tibeats—His Account of the Chase—Ford censures his Brutality—Arrival At the Plantation—Astonishment of the Slaves on seeing me—The anticipated Flogging—Kentucky John—Mr. Eldret, the Planter—Eldret’s Sam—Trip to the “Big Cane Brake”—The Tradition of “Sutton’s Field”—Forest Trees—Gnats and Mosquitoes—The Arrival of Black Women in the Big Cane—Lumber Women—Sudden Appearance of Tibeats—His Provoking Treatment—Visit to Bayou Boeuf—The Slave Pass—Southern Hospitality—The Last of Eliza—Sale to Edwin Epps,

CHAPTER XII.

Personal Appearance of Epps—Epps, Drunk and Sober—A Glimpse of his History— Cotton Growing—The Mode of Ploughing and Preparing Ground—Of Planting, of Hoeing, of Picking, of Treating Raw Hands—The difference in Cotton Pickers—Pat-sey a remarkable one—Tasked according to Ability—Beauty of a Cotton Field—The Slave’s Labors—Fear of Approaching the Gin-House—Weighing—”Chores”— Cabin Life—The Corn Mill—The Uses of the Gourd—Fear of Oversleeping—Fear continually—Mode of Cultivating Corn—Sweet Potatoes—Fertility of the Soil—Fattening Hogs—Preserving Bacon—Raising Cattle—Shooting-Matches—Garden Products—Flowers and Verdure,

CHAPTER XIII.

The Curious Axe-Helve—Symptoms of approaching Illness—Continue to decline— The Whip ineffectual—Confined to the Cabin—Visit by Dr. Wines—Art—Partial Recovery—Failure at Cotton Picking—What may be heard on Epps’ Plantation— Lashes Graduated—Epps in a Whipping Mood—Epps in a Dancing Mood—Description of the Dance—Loss of Rest no Excuse—Epps’ Characteristics—Jim Burns—Removal from Huff Power to Bayou Boeuf—Description of Uncle Abram; of Wiley; of Aunt Phebe; of Bob, Henry, and Edward; of Patsey; with a Genealogical Account of each—Something of their Past History, and Peculiar Characteristics— Jealousy and Lust—Patsey, the Victim,

CHAPTER XIV.

Destruction of the Cotton Crop in 1845—Demand for Laborers in St. Mary’s Parish—Sent thither in a Drove—The Order of the March—The Grand Coteau— Hired to Judge Turner on Bayou Salle—Appointed Driver in his Sugar House—Sunday Services—Slave Furniture; how obtained—The Party at Yarney’s, in Centre-ville—Good Fortune—The Captain of the Steamer—His Refusal to Secrete me—Return to Bayou Boeuf—Sight of Tibeats—Patsey’s Sorrows—Tumult and Contention—Hunting the Coon and Opossum—The Cunning of the latter—The Lean Condition of the Slave—Description of the Fish Trap—The Murder of the Man from Natchez—Epps Challenged by Marshall—The Influence of Slavery—The Love of Freedom,

CHAPTER XV.

Labors on Sugar Plantations—The Mode of Planting Cane—of Hoeing Cane—Cane Ricks—Cutting Cane—Description of the Cane Knife—Winrowing—Preparing for Succeeding Crops—Description of Hawkins’ Sugar Mill on Bayou Boeuf—The Christmas Holidays—The Carnival Season of the Children of Bondage—The Christmas Supper—Red, the Favorite Color—The Violin, and the Consolation it afforded—The Christmas Dance—Lively, the Coquette—Sam Roberts, and his Rivals—Slave Songs—Southern Life as it is—Three Days in the Year—The System of Marriage—Uncle Abram’s Contempt of Matrimony,

CHAPTER XVI.

Overseers—How they are Armed and Accompanied—The Homicide—His Execution At Marksville—Slave Drivers—Appointed Driver on removing to Bayou Boeuf— Practice makes perfect—Epps’s Attempt to Cut Platt’s Throat—The Escape from him—Protected by the Mistress—Forbids Reading and Writing—Obtain a Sheet of Paper After Nine Years’ Effort—The Letter—Armsby, the Mean White—Partially confide in him—His Treachery—Epps’ Suspicions—How they were quieted—Burn-ing the Letter—Armsby leaves the Bayou—Disappointment and Despair,

CHAPTER XVII.

Wiley disregards the counsels of Aunt Phebe and Uncle Abram, and is caught by the Patrollers—The Organization and Duties of the latter—Wiley Runs Away—Specu-lations in regard to him—His Unexpected Return—His Capture on the Red River, and Confinement in Alexandria Jail—Discovered by Joseph B. Roberts—Subduing Dogs in anticipation of Escape—The Fugitives in the Great Pine Woods—Captured by Adam Taydem and the Indians—Augustus killed by Dogs—Nelly, Eldret’s Slave Woman—The Story of Celeste—The Conc...