lucy terry prince, often credited as simply lucy terry, (c. 1730â1821) was brought to rhode island as a slave from africa. her future husband purchased her freedom before their marriage in 1756. she composed a ballad, "bars fight," about a 1746 incident. it was preserved orally until being published in 1855. it is considered the oldest known work of literature by an african american. ==early life==  terry was stolen from africa and sold into slavery in rhode island as an infant. she was later owned by ebenezer wells of deerfield, massachusetts, who allowed her to be baptized into the christian faith at about five years of age during the great awakening. a successful free black man named abijah prince purchased her freedom and married her in 1756. in 1764, the princes settled in guilford, vermont, where all six of their children were born. their names were tatnai, cesar, drucilla, durexa, abijah, jr and festus. cesar fought in the revolutionary war. ==poetry== her work, "bars fight", is a ballad about attack upon two white families by native americans on august 25, 1746. the attack occurred in an area of deerfield called "the bars", which was a colonial term for a meadow. the poem was preserved orally until it was finally published in 1855. ==oral arguments== in 1785, when a neighboring white family threatened the princes, they appealed to the governor and his council for protection. the council ordered guilford's selectmen to defend them. a persuasive orator, prince successfully negotiated a land case before the supreme court of vermont in the 1790s. she argued against two of the leading lawyers in the state (one of whom later became the chief justice of the supreme court of vermont), and won her case against the false land claims of colonel eli bronson. samuel chase, the presiding justice of the court, said that her argument was better than he had heard from any vermont lawyer. she also delivered a three-hour address to the board of trustees of williams college in order to gain admittance for her son festus. while she was not successful, her speech was remembered for its eloquence and skill. death : the following obituary was 
1730_births 1821_deaths 18th-century_American_poets 18th-century_women_writers 19th-century_American_poets 19th-century_women_writers African-American_history African-American_poets African-American_women_writers American_slaves American_women_poets American_women_writers Massachusetts_colonial_people People_from_Deerfield,_Massachusetts