Synopses & Reviews
In this groundbreaking compilation of first-person accounts of the runaway slave phenomenon, editors Devon Carbado and Donald Weise have recovered twelve narratives spanning eight decades—more than half of which have been long out of print. Told in the voices of the runaway slaves themselves, these narratives reveal the extraordinary and often innovative ways that these men and women sought freedom and demanded citizenship.
About the Author
Devon W. Carbado, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is professor of law and African American studies at UCLA. Carbado writes about race and is the editor of several books, including
Race Law Stories (with Rachel Moran) and
Time on Two Crosses (with Donald Weise).
Donald Weise is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Magnus Books. He has also served as publisher of Alyson Books and senior editor at Carroll & Graf Publishers. Weise was named an industry "Change Maker" by Publishers Weekly and is on the board of the Lambda Literary Foundation.
Table of Contents
Introduction: “I Will Run Away"
Part One: Running to Be Free
One: From A Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper, from American Slavery. With an Appendix, Containing a List of Places Visited by the Author in Great Britain and Ireland and the British Isles; and Other Matter.
Two: From Narrative of James Curry, A Fugitive Slave.
Three: From Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Written by Himself.
Part Two: Running Because of Family
Four: From Slavery Days in Old Kentucky. A True Story of a Father Who Sold His Wife and Four Children. By One of the Children.
Five: From The Narrative of Bethany Veney: A Slave Woman
Six: From Life and Adventures of Robert, the Hermit of Massachusetts, Who has lived 14 Years in a Cave, secluded from human society. Comprising, An account of his Birth, Parentage, Sufferings, and providential escape from unjust and cruel Bondage in early life—and his reasons for becoming a Recluse.
Part Three: Running Inspired by Religion
Seven: From A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents in the Life of Solomon Bayley, Formerly a Slave in the State of Delaware, North America; Written by Himself, and Published for His Benefit; to Which Are Prefixed, a Few Remarks by Robert Hurnard.
Eight: From The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Va.
Nine: From Sunshine and Shadow of Slave Life. Reminiscences as told by Isaac D. Williams to “Tege”
Part Four: Running by Any Means Necessary
Ten: From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself.
Eleven: From Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself.
Twelve: From Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; or, the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery.
Historical Afterword: Contextualizing the Runaway Experience: A Brief History of Slavery in America, by Brenda E. Stevenson
Bibliography
About the Editors