Black Voices - African American Autobiography and Biography: Slave Narratives

Three African-American Classics

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave 

Chains and Freedom

• Ball, Charles (1781-?) Slavery in the United States; a narrative of the life and adventures of Charles Ball, a black man, who lived forty years in Maryland, South Carolina and Georgia, as a slave... Lewistown, Pa., J. W. Shugert, 1836.
  

• Bibb, Henry, (1815- ) written by himself ; with an introduction by Lucius C. Matlack. Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave. New York : H. Bibb, 1850 [c1849].

• Douglass, Frederick, (1818-1895) written by himself. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Boston: Published at the Anti-slavery Office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845.
  

• Elizabeth, colored minister, (1766-1866). Elizabeth, a Colored Minister of The Gospel, Born in Slavery. Tract Association of Friends, no. 170. Philadelphia: Tract association of Friends,1889.

• Frederick, Francis, (approximately 1805-approximately 1882). Autobiography of Rev. Francis Frederick, of Virginia. Baltimore, J.W. Woods, printer, 1870.
  

• Gilbert, Olive. Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a northern slave, emancipated from bodily servitude by the state of New York, in 1828. With a portrait. Boston, Printed for the author, 1850.
  

• Henson, Josiah, (1789-1883). "Uncle Tom's Story of His Life." : An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson (Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom"). From 1789 to 1876. : With a preface by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, : and an introductory note by George Sturge, and S. Morley, esq., M.P. London : "Christian age" Office ..., 1877.
  

• Keckley, Elizabeth, (approximately 1818-1907). Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House: Memoirs of an African-American Seamstress. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2006.

• Sancho, Ignatius (1729-1780). Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African: In Two Volumes: To Which are Prefixed, Memoirs of His Life. London: Printed by J. Nichols, and sold by J. Dodsley [and 4 others], 1782.
  

• Smith, James Lindsay. Autobiography of James L. Smith; Including Also, Reminiscences of Slave Life, Recollections of the War, Education of Freedmen, Causes of the Exodus, etc. Norwich [Conn.] Press of the Bulletin Co., 1881.
  

• Tucker, George, (1775-1861). Letter to a Member of the General Assembly of Virginia, on the Subject of the Late Conspiracy of the Slaves; : with a Proposal for their Colonization. Richmond : Printed by H. Pace for the author, 1801.
  

• Mason, Isaac, (1822- ). Life of Isaac Mason As a Slave. Worcester, Mass., 1893.
  

• Mathews, Edward, (1812- ). The Autobiography of the Rev. E. Mathews, the Father Dickson of Mrs. Stowe's Dred: Also a Description of the Influence of the Slave-Party over the American Presidents, and the Rise and Progress of the Anti-Slavery Reform. London: Houlston and Wright; New York: American Baptist Free Mission Society, [pref. 1866].
  

• Osofsky, Gilbert, (1935-1974). Puttin' on Ole Massa: The Slave Narratives of Henry Bibb, William Wells Brown, and Solomon Northup. New York, Harper & Row [1969].

• Pickens, William, (1881-1954). The Heir of Slaves; An Autobiography. Boston, New York, [etc.] The Pilgrim press [c1911].
  

• Randolph, Peter, (1825?-1897). From Slave Cabin to the Pulpit; the Autobiography of Rev. Peter Randolp: the Southern Question Illustrated and Sketches of Slave Life. Boston, J. H. Earle, 1893.
  

• Three African-American Classics. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2007. This essential collection comprises a trio of the most influential African-American writings of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Exploring such themes as slavery and its abolition, the struggle for equality, and the impassioned rise from bondage to international recognition, each landmark book is a founding work in the civil rights literature of America.

• Vaux, Robert (1786-1836) Memoirs of the Life of Anthony Benezet. York [Eng.], Re-printed, with additions, etc. for W. Alexander, and sold by him; also by Darton, Harvey; and Co, W. Phillips, and W. Darton, Jun., London, 1817.
  

• Wheeler, Peter, (1789-1842). 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. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2009. A very early example of the escaped slave memoir genre and a rare account of northern slavery.

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