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The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (Voices From The Past Series)
The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (Voices From The Past Series): Stirring Autobiography that Influenced the Anti-Slavery Cause of British Colonies | Mary Prince
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This carefully crafted ebook: “The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (Voices From The Past Series)” is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The History of Mary Prince caused a stir as the first account published in Great Britain of a black woman's life at a time when anti-slavery agitation was growing. Her first person account touched many people and had an immediate effect on public opinion regarding the anti-slavery movement. When the book was published, slavery was no longer recognised as legal in Britain, but Parliament had not yet abolished it in its colonies like Bermuda and the British Caribbean. The book also generated a lot of controversy in its days and was seen as a misleading propaganda by the West Indian supporters of slavery. Excerpt: "I was born at Brackish-Pond, in Bermuda, on a farm belonging to Mr. Charles Myners. My mother was a household slave; and my father, whose name was Prince, was a sawyer belonging to Mr. Trimmingham, a ship-builder at Crow-Lane. When I was an infant, old Mr. Myners died, and there was a division of the slaves and other property among the family. I was bought along with my mother by old Captain Darrel, and given to his grandchild, little Miss Betsey Williams." Mary Prince (1788–1833) was born in Devonshire Parish, Bermuda, to an enslaved family of African descent who travelled to London with her master from Antigua where she narrated her life story to Thomas Pringle, the founder of Anti-Slavery society in Britain.
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This slim book was the first of it‘s kind to be published in the UK—a first person narrative of the life of an enslaved woman in #Antigua and other Caribbean countries. Undoubtedly there are more extensive and in depth narratives today, but this remains a compelling story of a woman bewildered by the way she is treated, as less than human.

#ReadingAmericas2023

Librarybelle Stacking this! 2y
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