The autobiography of Nicholas Said
Subtitle: a native of Bornou, Eastern Soudan, Central Africa
Contributors: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: Academic Affairs Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Slaves; Biography; Nigerian Americans; African Americans; Muslims; Freed persons; Slave trade; Travel; Voyages and travels; Slavery; History; Social conditions; Black people; Slaves' writings
Other titles: Nicholas Said.; North American slave narratives.
Description: Nicholas Said, born in Sudan, Africa ca. 1836, was the grandson of his small country's ruling chief. As a child, he was kidnapped by another African tribe and sold into slavery. He changed hands several times, and traveled throughout much of the world, including Africa, Russia, Europe, the West Indies, and North America. While in Russia and Europe, he was owned by Prince Troubetzkoÿ, a member of a Polish/Lithuanian royal family with ties in Russia. Said became a Christian during his time with the Prince. Many of Said's owners are depicted as kind masters, although he does note that he was regularly whipped by certain masters. After arriving in the United States, his last master went to Quebec, Canada, and never returned. Left with nothing as his few possessions were taken to pay his master's debt, Said traveled throughout the United States, teaching, working as a deckhand, tutoring, and writing his Autobiography, which was published in 1873 and contains descriptions of the politics, customs, and landscape of the various towns and countries he traveled to and lived in. He expresses concern about the plight of American slaves and freedmen, as well as that of those in the West Indies, but his own experiences in slavery are rarely addressed and he does not present mistreatment as a focus of his life experiences.
Notes: Title from electronic title page (viewed Jan. 20, 2004).

The University of Texas at Austin provided the text for the electronic publication of this title.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digitization project's database, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection North American slave narratives.

Text transcribed by Apex Data Services, Inc. Images scanned by Elizabeth S. Wright. Text encoded by Apex Data Services, Inc. and Elizabeth S. Wright.

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Transcribed from: The autobiography of Nicholas Said : a native of Bornou, Eastern Soudan, Central Africa. Memphis : Shotwell & Co., Publishers, 1873. 224 p. ; 17 cm. Spine title: Nicholas Said.

Funding from the Academic Affairs Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill supported the electronic publication of this title.

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