A nameless young slave
c. 1st–3rd century · Roman Empire · “The law” is taken to be the law of AD 4 that made it hard to free a slave under thirty outright. The date is not known exactly; it is put here in the early centuries of the Roman Empire, when most such epitaphs were cut.
The freedom that was owed to me in my youth, and denied by the law, an early death has given back for ever.
Debita libertas iuveni mihi lege negata
morte immatura reddita perpetua est.Bücheler, Carmina Latina Epigraphica 1015 (CLE 1015)
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Booker T. Washington
1901 · Virginia, USA · Alabama
I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time.
Up from Slavery, the opening
Frederick Douglass
1845 · United States · He goes on: most slaves knew as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and their masters wished to keep them so
I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, chapter 1
Harriet Jacobs
1861 · North Carolina, USA
I was born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the first sentence
Solomon Northup
1853 · New York, USA · Louisiana
Having been born a freeman, and for more than thirty years enjoyed the blessings of liberty in a free State—and having at the end of that time been kidnapped and sold into Slavery, where I remained, until happily rescued in the month of January, 1853, after a bondage of twelve years—it has been suggested that an account of my life and fortunes would not be uninteresting to the public.
Twelve Years a Slave, the first sentence
Harriet Jacobs
1861 · North Carolina, USA · On how her heart grew heavier when she was told her new-born baby was a girl
Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, chapter 14
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