Mary Prince
a woman who had lived in slavery · Bermuda · Antigua · 1788?–?
Born a slave in Bermuda and sold away from her mother as a child. She worked in the salt ponds of Turks Island and in Antigua, came to London with her owners and left their house. In 1831 she dictated her life, which was published as a book. Nothing is recorded of her later life.
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1831 · 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)
1831 · 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)
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