Three Narratives of Slavery

Straightforward, yet often poetic accounts of the battle for freedom, three memoirs by courageous black women vividly chronicle their struggles in the bonds of slavery, their rebellion against degrading injustice, and their determination to attain racial equality. In Narrative of Sojourner Truth, one of the most important documents on slavery ever written, a passionate African American abolitionist and champion of women's rights tells of her life as a slave, her self-liberation, and her tireless campaign for racial and sexual equality. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the 1861 autobiographical account of the brutality of slave life by Harriet Jacobs, who speaks frankly of her master's abuse and her eventual escape, in a tale of dauntless spirit and faith. In The History of Mary Prince, the first black woman to escape from slavery in the British colonies and publish a record of her experiences vividly recalls her life in the West Indies, her rebellion against physical and psychological degradation, and her 1828 escape in England.