[The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian slave. Related by herself. With a supplement by the editor (T. Pringle). To which is added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a captured African]

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Title
[The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian slave. Related by herself. With a supplement by the editor (T. Pringle). To which is added, the Narrative of Asa-Asa, a captured African]
Author
  • Prince, Mary
Document Type
  • Printed Book
Date
1831
Biography
Mary Prince was the first Black woman to publish an autobiography and to present an anti-slavery petition to Parliament. Mary was born in Bermuda in c. 1788, into an enslaved African family. She was sold multiple times, working in salt mines and as a domestic servant, and in 1828 was brought to England by her current owner John Adams Wood. After many disagreements, Mary was able to leave the Woods, though she was not legally free. She took shelter with the Moravian church in Hatton and took some work for abolitionist writer Thomas Pringle. Encouraged by him, Mary arranged for writer Susanna Strickland to transcribe her life narrative. Originally published in 1831, The History of Mary Prince, details her experience of being an enslaved person and sold out three printings in the first year.
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