North American Slave Narratives
Pre-Civil War era
(All Adobe Acrobat PDF files)
The
Light and Truth of Slavery. Aaron's History. 1845. 48 total pages
Incidents Connected with
the Life of Selim Aga, a Native of Central
Africa. 1846. 44 total pages
A Thrilling Sketch
of the Life of the Distinguished Chief Okah Tubbee Alias, Wm. Chubbee, Son of
the Head Chief, Mosholeh Tubbee, of the Choctaw Nation of Indians. 43 total
pages
The Life, Experience,
and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen. To Which is Annexed the Rise
and Progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States
of America. Containing a Narrative of the Yellow Fever in the Year of Our Lord
1793: With an Address to the People of Colour in the United States.
1833. 60 total pages
Memoir of Quamino Buccau,
a Pious Methodist. 1851. 30 total pages
Interesting Account of
Thomas Anderson, a Slave, Taken from His Own Lips. Ed. J. total pages Clark.
1854?. 12 total pages
Life and Narrative
of William J. Anderson, Twenty-four Years a Slave; Sold Eight Times! In Jail
Sixty Times!! Whipped Three Hundred Times!!! or The Dark Deeds of American Slavery
Revealed. Containing Scriptural Views of the Origin of the Black and of the
White Man. Also, a Simple and Easy Plan to Abolish Slavery in the United States.
Together with an Account of the Services of Colored Men in the Revolutionary
War--Day and Date, and Interesting Facts. 1857. 81 total pages
Anecdotes and Memoirs
of William Boen, a Coloured Man, Who Lived and Died Near Mount Holly, New Jersey.
To which is Added, The Testimony of Friends of Mount Holly Monthly Meeting
Concerning Him. 1834. 18 total pages
The Life, and Dying
Speech of Arthur, a Negro Man; Who Was Executed at Worcester, October 20, 1768.
For a Rape Committed on the Body of One Deborah Metcalfe. 1768. 1 total
pages
Fifty Years in Chains; or, The Life of an American
Slave. 1859. 430
total pages
Biography of Mahommah G. Baquaqua,
a Native of Zoogoo, in the Interior of Africa. (A Convert to Christianity,)
With a Description of That Part of the World; Including the Manners and Customs
of the Inhabitants, Their Religious Notions, Form of Government, Laws, Appearance
of the Country, Buildings, Agriculture, Manufactures, Shepherds and Herdsmen,
Domestic Animals, Marriage
Ceremonials, Funeral Services, Styles of Dress, Trade and
Commerce, Modes of Warfare, System of Slavery, and; and;
Mahommah's Early Life, His Education, His Capture and Slavery in Western Africa
and Brazil, His Escape to the United States, from
Thence to Hayti, (the City of Port Au Prince,) His Reception by the Baptist
Missionary There, The Rev. W. L. Judd; His Conversion to Christianity, Baptism,
and Return to This Country, His Views,
Objects and Aim. Written and Revised from His Own Words, by
Samuel Moore, Esq., Late Publisher of the "North of England Shipping Gazette,"
Author of Several Popular Works, and Editor of Sundry Reform Papers. 1854.
66 total pages
A History of the Amistad
Captives: Being a Circumstantial Account of the Capture of the Spanish Schooner
Amistad, by the Africans on Board; Their Voyage, and Capture Near Long Island,
New York; with Biographical Sketches of Each of the Surviving Africans; also,
an Account of the Trials had on Their case, Before the District and Circuit
Courts of the United States, for the District of Connecticut.
1840. 32 total pages
Gilbert Hunt, the City
Blacksmith. 1859. 34 total pages
A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents
in the Life of Solomon Bayley Formerly a Slave in the State of Delaware, North
America.
1825. 57 total pages
Narrative of the Life
and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American slave, Written by Himself. 1849.
207 total pages
Biography of London Ferrill,
Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Colored Persons, Lexington, KY., 1854.
12 total pages
The Life and Sufferings
of Leonard Black, a Fugitive from Slavery. Written by Himself. 1847. 63
total pages
The Blind African Slave,
or Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace. Containing an Account
of the Kingdom of Bow-Woo, in the Interior of Africa; with the Climate and Natural
Productions, Laws, and Customs Peculiar to That Place. With an Account of His
Captivity, Sufferings, Sales, Travels, Emancipation, Conversion to the Christian
Religion, Knowledge of the Scriptures, and; Interspersed with Strictures on
Slavery, Speculative
Observations on the Qualities of Human Nature, with Quotation
from Scripture. 1810. 204 total pages
Trials and Confessions
of Madison Henderson, Alias Blanchard,
Alfred Amos Warrick, James W. Seward, and Charles Brown,
Murderers of Jesse Baker and Jacob Weaver, As Given by
Themselves and Likeness of Each, Taken in Jail Shortly After Their Arrest. 1841.
Narrative of Henry
Box Brown, Who Escaped from Slavery Enclosed in a Box 3 Feet Long and 2 Wide.
Written from a Statement of Facts Made by Himself. With Remarks Upon the Remedy
for Slavery. By Charles Stearns. 1849. 92 total pages
Slave Life in Georgia: A Narrative
of the Life, Sufferings, and Escape of John Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Now in
England. 1855. 252
total pages
Biography of an American Bondman, by His Daughter.
c1855. 104 total
pages
Memoir of Mrs. Chloe
Spear, a Native of Africa, Who was Enslaved in Childhood, and Died in Boston,
January 3, 1815 ... Aged 65 Years. By a Lady of Boston. 1832. 108 total
pages
The American Fugitive
in Europe. Sketches of Places and People
Abroad. 1855. 320 total pages
Narrative of William W. Brown, a
Fugitive Slave. Written by
Himself. 1847. 110 total pages
Narrative of William W. Brown,
an American Slave. 1849. 168 total
pages
Three Years in Europe: Or, Places
I Have Seen and People I Have
Met. 1852. 344 total pages
Trials and Confessions
of Madison Henderson, Alias Blanchard,
Alfred Amos Warrick, James W. Seward, and Charles Brown,
Murderers of Jesse Baker and Jacob Weaver, As Given by
Themselves and Likeness of Each, Taken in Jail Shortly After Their Arrest. 1841.
Narrative of Dimmock Charlton,
a British Subject, Taken from the Brig "Peacock" by the U.S. Sloop
"Hornet," Enslaved while a Prisoner of War, and Retained Forty-Five
Years in Bondage. 1859. 15
total pages
Running a Thousand
Miles for Freedom; or, the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery.
1860. iv, 111 total pages
"Narrative of the
Enslavement of Ottobah Cugoano, a Native of
Africa; Published by Himself in the Year 1787" 1825. 120-127 total
pages
The Heroic Slave. From Autographs for Freedom,
Ed. Julia
Griffiths 1853, Fictionalized account. pages 174-239.
My Bondage and My Freedom.
Part I. Life as a Slave. Part II. Life
as a Freeman. 1855. 468 total pages
Uncle Tom's Companions: Or, Facts
Stranger Than Fiction. A Supplement to Uncle Tom's Cabin: Being Startling Incidents
in the Lives of Celebrated Fugitive Slaves. 1852 222 total pages
A North-Side View of Slavery.
The Refugee: or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada. Related by Themselves,
with an Account of the History and Condition of the Colored Population of Upper
Canada. 1856. 403 total pages
The Interesting Narrative
of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself.
Vol. I. , [1789.] 291
total pages
The Interesting Narrative
of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself.
Vol II [1789.] 257
total pages
The Last Words and
Dying Speech of Edmund Fortis, a Negro Man, Who Appeared to Be between Thirty
and Forty Years of Age, but Very Ignorant. He Was Executed at Dresden, on Kennebeck
River, on Thursday the Twenty-Fifth Day of September, 1794, for a Rape and Murder,
Committed on the Body of Pamela Tilton, a Young Girl of about Fourteen Years
of Age, Daughter of Mr. Tilton of
Vassalborough, in the County of Lincoln. 1795. 12 total pages
A Statement with
Regard to the Moorish Prince, Abduhl
Rahhahman. 1828. 8 total pages
Narrative of the
Life of Moses Grandy; Late a Slave in the United States of America. 1843.
72 total pages
The Life of the Rev. Dandridge F.
Davis, of the African M. E. Church. With a Brief Account of His Conversion and
Ministerial Labors, from August 1834, till March 1847. Also, a Brief Sketch
of the Life of the Rev. David Conyou, of the A. M. E. C. and His Ministerial
Labors. To Which Is Annexed the Funeral Discourse Delivered at the Ohio Conference,
in Zanesville, on the Decease of the Rev. D. F. Davis, by the Author. 1850.
130 total pages
Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge.
Providence, R. I.: B.T. Albro, 1838. 128 total pages
Narrative of Events
in the Life of William Green, (Formerly a Slave.) Written by Himself. 1853.
23 total pages
Life of William Grimes,
the Runaway Slave. Written by Himself. 1825. 68 total pages
Life of William Grimes,
the Runaway Slave, Brought Down to the Present Time. 1855. 93 total pages
A Narrative of the
Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton
Hammon, a Negro Man,--Servant to General Winslow, of Marshfield, in New
England; Who Returned to Boston, After Having Been Absent Almost Thirteen Years.
Containing an Account of the Many Hardships He Underwent from the Time He Left
His Master's House, in the Year 1747, to the Time of His Return to Boston.--How
He Was Cast Away in the Capes of Florida;--The Horrid Cruelty and Inhuman Barbarity
of the Indians in Murdering the Whole Ship's Crew;--The Manner of His Being
Carry'd by Them Into Captivity. Also, an Account of His Being Confined Four
Years and Seven Months in a Close Dungeon,--and the Remarkable Manner in Which
He Met with His Good Old Master in London; Who Returned to New-England, a
Passenger in the Same Shitotal pages 1760. 14 total pages
Life and Opinions of
Julius Melbourn; with Sketches of the Lives and Characters of Thomas Jefferson,
John Quincy Adams, John Randolph, and Several Other Eminent American Statesmen.
1847. Fictionalized account. 239 total pages
Narrative of William Hayden,
Containing a Faithful Account of His Travels for a
Number of Years, Whilst a Slave, in the South. Written by Himself. 1846.
154 total
pages
The Slave: or Memoirs
of Archy Moore. Vol. I. 1836. FICTION. 171 total pages
The Slave: or Memoirs
of Archy Moore. Vol. II. 1836. FICTION. 163 total pages
The White Slave; or,
Memoirs of a Fugitive. 1852. Fictionalized account. 408 total pages
The Life of Josiah
Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself.
1849. 80 total pages
Truth Stranger Than Fiction.
Father Henson's Story of His Own Life. 1858. 224 total pages
Narrative and Writings
of Andrew Jackson, of Kentucky; Containing an Account of
His Birth, and Twenty-Six Years of His Life While a Slave; His Escape; Five
Years of
Freedom, Together with Anecdotes Relating to Slavery; Journal of One Year's
Travels; Sketches, etc. Narrated by Himself; Written by a Friend 1847. 120
total
pages
The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea,
the African Preacher. Compiled and Written by Himself. 1811. 96 total pages
The Address of Abraham
Johnstone, a Black Man, Who Was Hanged at Woodbury, in the County of Glocester,
and State of New Jersey, on Saturday the the [sic] 8th Day of July Last; To
the People of Colour. To Which Is Added His Dying Confession or Declaration.
Also, a Copy of a Letter to His Wife, Written the Day Previous to His Execution.
1797. 47 total pages
The Life and Sufferings
of John Joseph, a Native of Ashantee, in Western Africa: Who Was Stolen from
His Parents at the Age of 3 Years, and Sold to Mr. Johnstone, a Cotton Planter,
in New Orleans, South America. 1848. 8 total pages
Confession of John Joyce, Alias,
Davis, Who Was Executed on Monday, the 14th of March, 1808 for the Murder of
Mrs. Sarah Cross: With an Address to the Public and People of Colour, Together
with the Substance of the Trial, and the Address of Chief Justice Tilghman,
On His Condemnation. Confession of Peter Mathias, Alias
Matthews, Who Was Executed on Monday, the 14th of March, 1808. For the Murder
of Mrs. Sarah Cross; With an Address to the Public and People of Colour. Together
with the Substance of the Trial, and the Address of Chief Justice Tilghman,
on His Condemnation. 1808. 36 total pages
Memoir of Pierre Toussaint,
Born a Slave in St. Domingo. 1854. 126 total pages
Chains and Freedom: Or, The Life and Adventures
of Peter Wheeler, a Colored Man Yet Living. A Slave in Chains, a Sailor on the
Deep, and a Sinner at the Cross. 1839. 260 total pages
The Life, Labors, and
Travels of Elder Charles Bowles, of the Free Will Baptist Denomination, by Eld.
John W. Lewis. Together with an Essay on the Character and Condition of the
African Race by the Same. Also, an Essay on the Fugitive Law of the U. S. Congress
of 1850, by Rev. Arthur Dearing. 1852. 288 total pages
The Life of Joice
Heth, the Nurse of Gen. George Washington, (the Father of Our Country,) Now
Living at the Astonishing Age of 161 Years, and Weighs Only 46 Pounds .
1835. 12 total pages
The Rev. J. W. Loguen, as a Slave and as
a Freeman. A Narrative of Real Life. 1859. 445 total pages
Pictures of Slavery
in Church and State; Including Personal Reminiscences, Biographical Sketches,
Anecdotes, etc. etc. with an Appendix, Containing the Views of John Wesley and
Richard Watson on Slavery. 1857. 426 total pages
Poems by a Slave
in the Island of Cuba, Recently Liberated; Translated from the Spanish, by R.
R. Madden, M.D. With the History of the Early Life of the Negro Poet, Written
by Himself; to Which Are Prefixed Two Pieces Descriptive of Cuban Slavery and
the Slave-Traffic, by R. R. M. 1840. 188 total pages
A Short History
of the Life of Christopher McPherson, Alias Pherson, Son of Christ, King of
Kings and Lord of Lords., 1855. 40 total pages
Negro Slavery Described
by a Negro: Being the Narrative of Ashton Warner, a Native of St. Vincent's.
With an Appendix Containing the Testimony of Four Christian
Ministers, Recently Returned from the Colonies, on the System of Slavery as
It Now Exists. 1831. 144 total pages
Biographical Sketches
and Interesting Anecdotes of Persons of Colour. To Which is Added, a Selection
of Pieces in Poetry. 1826. 192 total pages
Sketches of the Life
of Joseph Mountain, a Negro, Who Was Executed at New-Haven, on the 20th Day
of October, 1790, for a Rape, Committed on the 26th Day of May Last. [The Writer
of This History Has Directed That the Money Arising From the Sales Thereof,
After Deducting the Expence of Printing, and; Be Given to the Unhappy Girl,
Whose Life Is Rendered Wretched by the Crime of the Malefactor.].
1790. 20total pages
A Narrative of "Griswold,"
the African Youth, from the Mission School, at Cape Palmas, Who Died in
Boston, May 16, 1844. 1845. 16 total pages
The Life and Adventures
of Zamba, an African Negro King; and His Experience of Slavery in South Carolina.
Written by Himself. Corrected and Arranged by Peter Neilson. 1847. Fictionalized
account. 278 total pages
Memoirs of the Reign
of Bossa Ahaacute;dee, King of Dahomy, an Inland Country of Guiney. To Which
Are Added, the Author's Journey to Abomey, the Capital; and a Short Account
of the African Slave Trade. 1789. 201 total pages
Twelve Years a Slave:
Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington
City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853. 1853. 336 total pages
Memoir and Poems of
Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and a Slave. Dedicated to the Friends of
the Africans. 1834. 103 total pages
A Narrative of the
Life and Labors of the Rev. G. W. Offley, a Colored Man, Local Preacher and
Missionary; Who Lived Twenty-Seven Years at the South and TwentyThree at the
North; Who Never Went to School a Day in His Life, and Only
Commenced to Learn His Letters When Nineteen Years and Eight Months Old; the
Emancipation of His Mother and Her Three Children; How He Learned to Read While
Living in a Slave State, and Supported Himself from the Time He Was Nine Years
Old Until He Was Twenty-One. , 1859. 24 total pages
The Looking-Glass: Being
a True Report and Narrative of the Life, Travels, and
Labors of the Rev. Daniel H. Peterson, a Colored Clergyman; Embracing a Period
of Time from the Year 1812 to 1854, and Including His Visit to Western Africa.
1854. 150 total pages
The Fugitive Blacksmith; or, Events
in the History of James W. C. Pennington, Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, New
York, Formerly a Slave in the State of Maryland, United States. 1849. 112
total pages
Jamie Parker, the Fugitive.
1851. Fictionalized account. 192 total pages
The Martyrs, and the Fugitive;
or a Narrative of the Captivity, Sufferings, and Death of an African Family,
and the Slavery and Escape of Their Son. 1859. Fictionalized account. 95
total pages
The History of Mary Prince,
a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself. With a Supplement by the Editor. To
Which Is Added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a Captured African. 1831. 41 total
pages
The Royal African: or, Memoirs of the Young
Prince of Annamaboe. Comprehending
a Distinct Account of His Country and Family; His Elder Brother's Voyage to
France,
and Reception there; the Manner in Which Himself Was Confided by His Father
to
the Captain Who Sold Him; His Condition While a Slave in Barbadoes; the True
Cause of His Bring Redeemed; His Voyage from Thence; and Reception Here in
England. Interspers'd Throughout with Several Historical Remarks on the Commerce
of the European Nations, Whose Subjects Frequent the Coast of Guinea. To which
is
Prefixed a Letter from the Author to a Person of Distinction, in Reference to
Some
Natural Curiosities in Africa; as Well as Explaining the Motives which Induced
Him
to Compose These Memoirs. [1750] 55 total pages
The Narrative of James
Roberts, a Soldier Under Gen. Washington in the
Revolutionary War, and Under Gen. Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans, in the
War of 1812: "a Battle Which Cost Me a Limb, Some Blood, and Almost My
Life." 1858. 32 total pages
The Negro Servant in "Annals of the
Poor. Containing The Dairyman's Daughter,
(with considerable additions), and The young Cottager." 1815. -FICTION-51
total
pages
Letters of the Late
Ignatius Sancho, An African. In Two Volumes. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs
of His Life. Vol. 1. 1782. 261 total pages
Letters of the Late
Ignatius Sancho, An African. In Two Volumes. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs
of His Life. Vol. 2. 1782. 224 total pages
Sketches of Slave Life: Or, Illustrations
of the "Peculiar Institution" . 1855. 35 total pages
Slavery Illustrated,
in the Histories of Zangara and Maquama, Two Negroes Stolen from Africa and
Sold into Slavery. Related by Themselves. [1849] Fictionalized account.
38 pages total.
A Narrative of Thomas
Smallwood, (Coloured Man:) Giving an Account of His Birth-The Period He Was
Held in Slavery-His Release--and Removal to Canada, etc.
Together With an Account of the Underground Railroad. Written by Himself.
1851. 63 total pages
A Narrative of the
Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty
Years in the United States of America. Related by Himself. 1798. iv, 5-32
total pages
Narrative of Joanna;
An Emancipated Slave, of Surinam. (From Stedman's Narrative of a Five Year's
Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam). 72 total pages
Twenty-Two Years a
Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman; Embracing a
Correspondence of Several Years, While President of Wilberforce Colony, London,
Canada West. 1857. 360 total pages
Aunt Judy's Story: A Tale From Real Life.
Written for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Fair. 1855. 36 total pages
Biography of Elder Lott
Cary, Late Missionary to Africa. With an Appendix on the Subject of Colonization,
by J.H.B. Latrobe. 1837. 108 total pages
Memoir of Phillis Wheatley,
a Native African and a Slave. 1834. 36 total pages
The Life of John
Thompson, a Fugitive Slave; Containing His History of 25 Years in Bondage, and
His Providential Escape. Written by Himself. 1856. 143 total page
A Sketch of the
Life of Okah Tubbee, (Called) William Chubbee, Son of the Head Chief, Mosholeh
Tubbee, of the Choctaw Nation of Indians. 1852. 96 total pages
Narrative of Sojourner
Truth, A Northern Slave, Emancipated from Bodily Servitude by the State of New
York, in 1828. 1850. 144 total pages
Narrative of Phebe Ann
Jacobs. 1850? 8 total pages
Fanaticism; Its Source
and Influence, Illustrated by the Simple Narrative of Isabella, in the Case
of Matthias, Mr. and Mrs. B. Folger, Mr. Pierson, Mr. Mills, Catherine, Isabella,
and; and; A Reply to W. L. Stone, with the Descriptive Portraits of All the
Parties, While at Sing-Sing and at Third Street. - Containing the Whole Truth
- and Nothing but the Truth. 1835. 212 total pages
Autobiography of a Fugitive
Negro: His Anti-Slavery Labours in the United States, Canada, and England.
1855. 412 total pages
Narrative of the Life
of James Watkins, Formerly a "Chattel" in Maryland, U. S.; Containing
an Account of His Escape from Slavery, Together with an Appeal on Behalf of
Three Millions of Such "Pieces of Property," Still Held Under the
Standard of the Eagle. 48 total pages
Struggles for Freedom; or The Life
of James Watkins, Formerly a Slave in Maryland, U. S.; in Which is Detailed
a Graphic Account of His Extraordinary Escape from
Slavery, Notices of the Fugitive Slave Law, the Sentiments of American Divines
on the Subject of Slavery, etc., etc. 1860. 104 total pages
Narrative of Henry Watson, a Fugitive
Slave. 1848. 48 total pages
American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses. 1839. 224
total pages
Memoir and Poems of
Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and a Slave. Dedicated to the Friends of
the Africans. 1834. 103 total pages
A Brief Account of the
Life, Experience, Travels, and Gospel Labours of George White, an African; Written
by Himself, and Revised by a Friend. 1810. 60 total pages
Aunt Sally: or, The
Cross the Way of Freedom. A Narrative of the Slave-life and
Purchase of the Mother of Rev. Isaac Williams, of Detroit, Michigan. 1858.
216 total
pages.