Asa-Asa
1831 · West Africa · London · Three passages from the first paragraph of his narrative. The editor says it is given as nearly as possible in his own words, corrected only enough to connect the story and make it grammatical.
My father's name was Clashoquin; mine is Asa-Asa. ⋯ We all lived together with my father and mother; he kept a horse, and was respectable, but not one of the great men. ⋯ I was too little to work; my eldest brother used to work on the land; and we were all very happy.
"Narrative of Louis Asa-Asa, a Captured African", printed at the end of The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (1831)
In the same thread
Mary Prince
1831 · Bermuda · Antigua · From the end of the book. Her words were taken down by Susanna Strickland.
All slaves want to be free--to be free is very sweet. I will say the truth to English people who may read this history that my good friend, Miss S----, is now writing down for me. I have been a slave myself--I know what slaves feel--I can tell by myself what other slaves feel, and by what they have told me. The man that says slaves be quite happy in slavery--that they don't want to be free--that man is either ignorant or a lying person. I never heard a slave say so.
The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (1831)
Mary Prince
1831 · Bermuda · Antigua · Her answer to the owners' claim that they cannot do without slaves. She goes on to say that they do not mind hard work, given proper treatment and proper wages.
They hire servants in England; and if they don't like them, they send them away: they can't lick them. Let them work ever so hard in England, they are far better off than slaves. If they get a bad master, they give warning and go hire to another. They have their liberty. That's just what we want.
The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (1831)
Asa-Asa
1831 · West Africa · London · The editor says that the closing passage alone is entirely his own, unaltered. This is from the middle of that passage.
I should like much to see my friends again, but I do not now wish to go back to them: for if I go back to my own country, I might be taken as a slave again. I would rather stay here, where I am free, than go back to my country to be sold.
"Narrative of Louis Asa-Asa, a Captured African", printed at the end of The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (1831)
Ukawsaw Gronniosaw
1772 · West Africa · Britain · From his boyhood, just after he was sold on the Gold Coast and taken aboard a Dutch ship. The captain read prayers to the crew every Sunday. The book was taken down from his own telling in England.
I was never so surprised in my whole life as when I saw the book talk to my master; for I thought it did, as I observed him to look upon it, and move his lips.--I wished it would do so to me.--As soon as my master had done reading I follow'd him to the place where he put the book, being mightily delighted with it, and when nobody saw me, I open'd it and put my ear down close upon it, in great hope that it wou'd say something to me; but was very sorry and greatly disappointed when I found it would not speak, this thought immediately presented itself to me, that every body and every thing despis'd me because I was black.
A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, as Related by Himself (1772)
Ignatius Sancho
1766 · London · The opening of his first letter to the novelist Laurence Sterne. He goes on to quote a passage on slavery from Sterne's sermons and begs him to give half an hour's attention to slavery as practised in the West Indies. This edition prints the date as July 1776, but Sterne died in 1768, so it is taken here as a misprint for 1766.
I am one of those people whom the vulgar and illiberal call “Negurs.”--The first part of my life was rather unlucky, as I was placed in a family who judged ignorance the best and only security for obedience.--A little reading and writing I got by unwearied application.--The latter part of my life has been--through God’s blessing, truly fortunate, having spent it in the service of the best families in the kingdom.--My chief pleasure has been books.--Philanthropy I adore.
Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African (3rd ed., 1784) · Letter XXXVI, to Laurence Sterne
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us