Our Nig; Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black

By Harriet E. Wilson

Harriet Wilson (1825-1900) is the first female African American to publish a novel in North America. Her first and only work, "Our Nig: Sketches From the Life From a Free Black" was published in 1859 and was considered lost until 1982 when rediscovered by the scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. The novel is largely autobiographical, tracking the life of a free black women in the Antebellum North. At the age of three, the protagonist Frado is abandoned by her parents and left at the house of the Bellmonts, a wealthy New England family. Her life as a free black woman in the North is filled with hardship and suffering. This realistic tale sugar coats nothing, and the reader witnesses Frado's difficult life as a servant to the family. A groundbreaking work of gender and race identity, Wilson creates a tremendous narrative central to African American history. Much in the vein of Phillis Wheatley and Langston Hughes, Harriet Wilson's novel helped begin the tradition of African American literature in America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing
• Release date: Feb 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781596257542

Harriet E. Wilson

Harriet E. Wilson (1825-1900) was an African American novelist. Born a free person of color in New Hampshire, Wilson was the daughter of an African American father and an Irish American mother. Following the death of her father, Wilson was abandoned by her mother at the farm of Nehemiah Hayward Jr., who held her as an indentured servant until the age of eighteen. Upon reaching adulthood, Wilson worked as a house servant and seamstress before, in 1851, marrying an escaped slave named Thomas Wilson, who later abandoned her during pregnancy. Although he returned for a brief time, he died at sea soon after, leaving Wilson a widow. She struggled immensely over the next several years to provide for her son, who would die at the age of seven in 1860. During this period, however, Wilson managed to write Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (1859), which she published anonymously as a means of raising money for her sick child. Now recognized as the first novel published by an African American in the United States, Wilson’s autobiographical work is the only thing she published in her lifetime. After George’s death, Wilson moved to Boston, where she remarried; divorced; and worked as a housekeeper, medium, and lecturer.

Book preview

�pNabook_preview_excerpt.html�Y[r�� �?�Ci2�q&�TJ�-1#�*��ǟ`7Ȇ��@7�+��&��,%+�9ݤ�'���d7pq��^6W��s�8��P��5W��>��ϓ���d���gjy7Q��75{��x4������GÖ�#�/�������z7]N����b2R�����|X�����>�B�x���w���o����{�:��W�w�G=�w���.? �_~��jxs7�ϧ���������qx1V7vc��e:/B�^���=�ԭ�M�����S��U���G�����^��dz��~��w��~|���٫a�dE�_�{��?�<���g?떕Mʔ����"4�h7U���O���?�zrF'�v6�V]���ru�����g�^~�����o����r�<��n&7���r*�X]�^<�'o�ד/�^ߍ���������ZY|uN7f�LkV-�������^��7Sq"�����MSԀC�>_����v�?M�O��_�������D���"Ʒ5�O��KYߨ���'��'����a?=!�_�x��ɞ�E�Jo��Ϯgb��qr�^�'˻9 �ZL8a1���@
���S&2r����r9?A!�5�j�zҝ�ިq��R��up��^�bAvh_�;��A݇�(/�u�/S�L�"��g:n:mk��ٿ�i+u�:��1��O�5��]ip�3^�M�+E^L�և� t� ��tR6b����!*�>����g����h!�;���þ2ь��!��w6��Q0��]a�֔#EM��.ɧ����D�W�κ֙��ʅP^������2�%r{�8Ƃ�1��U$��nk�SmelTήE�2���1�A)�c����2��G{n��Z���� j�>ȇ��@��A�]�_��2�}�Tk��Db(Y8]*��wƻ����,HԱF��-b_�G�${�b�w� ���Eh+Njt[�����YtJHՖ9���@E����Q �$<���[�z��n�Wv�B>��sa�w��0��p�l��0~�"C�PQ����Rj�m�^b4k�O�;ϵv������F��i`uI������t��-#�C+�����>���:�:��h�&@oc�%m�/#�*m�Ty��:��8zo�tM�E.�j8�� �R#o�����y�m�j�H��Շd�:�WY�C�RZ����߲C���>����z1/��f������;g�0��f*�=��
P����z11��|�����>��V�B��Ⱥ���{P�^uC��$ 6�%�o r��c�� �6u��[��un�c�j��I�A�$`�ދ��ޏT�����\�@iP&���z"cE
# p(A���u+Q���l�S��K<��v���M@��*R!�-R'N �} e��V�� �b��V=�?��9��AL�T����}Nn� �����+�*؁�EiD9A��y�fY� Y�� $ s�MnpΊ�h( )����A2����Et����0&0�Ն���9��#N�����I���7�) ��uL�}�k�;����!:Du�iy�����S��\'�Rw�B"�����̱��Ԫ�JU��k���g9›oa>
�����-��+�A��nD�Z3bgE@A�`���1�g��f�{��'o��HG��D˵ۦ\�%���te&G��](@��S����u��RK�D�t�E�1;D
ɠ#�Y`='���l�t�T�T�f��F�P-��"Dah��Q�uB���I
�e6 G�,� %2t`���s�N���{K����2���}�8#��Т̍|)p�E�E��"�V X�e`�Į��5�J���5�%d��N���"vl�P�z��r�ovv�Y�:�A0Y�9I�]�(��‰@Bۃ�l�o}=0V��*ft݋��Gt��^��t
����"�����w�o�@����z;�XtO�P��[*��5bAw1gFT]#|ZP��cV�e� ��)�;�T�]����_��l�^��i�7"�Q�Ȝ֢����S͎W����eܠ�������U�k� C�΢�)�N��*C(�#$a��z8�t�D�&�����LJP'�@@�†��ӅO� ]�(�Pl�\��R
yrl`\r;�¶X"�u���P��lz0&�}w�>��9{{.�,"�� �r���;�C��:��D�ُ�y+�N���53:�zl$��)Xmj$ 6���c({}f�<�5���%B�2�p?��<5C}#�Hϗ5��ND�m� Gx��tu�zx�oq�\+��

Enjoying the preview?

Subscribe to continue reading