Books by Mary Prince

This is the story of Mary Prince, who was sold into slavery at the age of 12 for pound38 sterling. It is the first account of the life of a black woman ever to be published in the United Kingdom, and it was published at a time when slavery was still legal in the British Colonies. The history of Mary Prince is firsthand testimony of the brutalities of enslavement. Its tone is direct and authentic, which makes this vivid story go straight to the heart. This book immediateley sparked public controversy and eventually played a crucial role in the abolition campaign. "It was night when I reached my new home. The house was large, and built at the bottom of a very high hill; but I could not see much of it that night. I saw too much of it afterwards. The stones and the timber were the best things in it; they were not so hard as the hearts of the owners."

Mary Prince was the first black woman to escape from slavery in the British colonies and to publish a record of her life in bondage. Born into servitude, at the tender age of twelve she witnessed the ruin of her family, with her mother and each of her siblings sold off to separate owners, after which she herself was passed from master to master, all of whom subjected her to sexual or physical abuse. In this vivid and graphic account she describes the hideous working conditions of those enslaved, and the barbaric, arbitrary punishments meted out for minor or imagined misdemeanours, many of which led to the death of those oppressed. In her middle years Mary was taken to England, where (all slaves being automatically freed on touching English soil) she fled her former owner and took refuge with Thomas Pringle - a staunch abolitionist - who aided the editing of these her memoirs, first published to wide acclaim in 1831.Included in this fully annotated edition are five illustrations and one map, Thomas Pringle's report on the life and character of Mary Prince, and a short account of the trials of Asa-Asa, a young man who was captured during inter-tribal warfare and held as a slave in Africa for six months, before being sold into the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Three accounts of the lives of famous slavesThis unique Leonaur book brings together three remarkable accounts of slavery and escapes to freedom by African women and men in the United States and West Indies during the 19th century. The first account, written by William and Ellen Craft, recounts the incredible and epic escape by a husband and wife who, recognising that Mrs. Craft was so pale skinned that she could pass for a person of European origin, devised the innovative plan of posing as a young male planter master and his slave. The second story, that of Bermudan born Mary Prince, is notable because hers was the first personal account written by a female negro slave ever to be published in Britain. The third and final account by Solomon Northup, has now become famous again because his experiences have been turned into a highly regarded motion picture. Northup was born a free man, happily married with children and working and owning property in Saratoga Springs, New York. During a visit to Washington he was drugged, kidnapped and sold into slavery on a Southern plantation which he endured, despite repeated escape attempts, for twelve years before regaining the liberty that had been taken from him.Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.

Three accounts of the lives of famous slavesThis unique Leonaur book brings together three remarkable accounts of slavery and escapes to freedom by African women and men in the United States and West Indies during the 19th century. The first account, written by William and Ellen Craft, recounts the incredible and epic escape by a husband and wife who, recognising that Mrs. Craft was so pale skinned that she could pass for a person of European origin, devised the innovative plan of posing as a young male planter master and his slave. The second story, that of Bermudan born Mary Prince, is notable because hers was the first personal account written by a female negro slave ever to be published in Britain. The third and final account by Solomon Northup, has now become famous again because his experiences have been turned into a highly regarded motion picture. Northup was born a free man, happily married with children and working and owning property in Saratoga Springs, New York. During a visit to Washington he was drugged, kidnapped and sold into slavery on a Southern plantation which he endured, despite repeated escape attempts, for twelve years before regaining the liberty that had been taken from him.Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.

Mary Prince was the first black British woman to escape from slavery and publish a record of her experiences. In this unique document, Mary Prince vividly recalls her life as a slave in Bermuda, Turks Island, and Antigua, her rebellion against physical and psychological degradation, and her eventual escape to London in 1828.

The first black woman to escape from slavery in the British colonies and publish a record of her experiences, Prince vividly recalls her life in the West Indies, her rebellion against physical and psychological degradation, and her 1828 escape in England. A straightforward, often poetic account of a struggle for freedom.

The History of Mary Prince (1831) was the first narrative of a black woman to be published in Britain. It describes Prince's sufferings as a slave in Bermuda, Turks Island and Antigua, and her eventual arrival in London with her brutal owner Mr Wood in 1828. Prince escaped from him and sought assistance from the Anti-Slavery Society, where she dictated her remarkable story to Susanna Strickland (later Moodie). A moving and graphic document, The History drew attention to the continuation of slavery in the Caribbean, despite an 1807 Act of Parliament officially ending the slave trade. It inspired two libel actions and ran into three editions in the year of its publication. This powerful rallying cry for emancipation remains an extraordinary testament to Prince's ill-treatment, suffering and survival.