Recollections of a former slave
By: James L. Smith ; with an introduction by Rosalyn Howard.
Series: Classics in Black studies
Publisher: Humanity Books
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Amherst, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 150
Subjects: Smith, James Lindsay.; Slaves -- Virginia -- Biography.; Fugitive slaves -- United States -- Biography.; Freedmen -- United States -- Biography; African Americans -- Biography.; Slavery -- Virginia -- Northern Neck -- History -- 19th century.; African Americans -- Social conditions -- 19th century.; Northern Neck (Va.) -- Biography.; Norwich (Conn.) -- Biography.
Genres: Biography.; Biography
Description: "Born a slave on a Virginia plantation, James Lindsay Smith endured a life of humiliation, and physical and psychological abuse of every sort. Originally published in 1881, this detailed narrative of Smith's long and eventful life is a stirring testament to his very survival under conditions of extreme hardship. Unlike the eloquent rhetoric of Frederick Douglass, Smith's prose is simple and plainspoken." "Smith begins his narrative with stories of his various cruel masters, the many beatings, the heartless separations of family members, and his religious conversion. Trained as a shoemaker, he makes a daring escape to freedom, forging a new life for himself among the abolitionists in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He details life during the Civil War, racism among Union soldiers, heroism of African American troops, reactions to the Emancipation Proclamation and the assassination of Lincoln, and the migration of emancipated slaves to the West. His autobiography concludes with a bittersweet visit to his old homestead in Virginia, celebrations over the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, and his hope for the future."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Originally published: Autobiography of James L. Smith. Norwich [Conn.] : Press of the Bulletin Co., 1881.