1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910971250603321

Titolo

The blind African slave, or, Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, nicknamed Jeffery Brace / / edited and with an introduction by Kari J. Winter

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Madison, : University of Wisconsin Press, c2004

ISBN

1-282-26955-0

9786612269554

0-299-20143-0

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (265 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

WinterKari J

PrentissBenjamin F <1774 or 1775-1817.> (Benjamin Franklin)

Disciplina

306.3/62/092

B

Soggetti

African Americans - Social conditions - 18th century

Enslaved persons - New England

Enslaved persons - New England - Social conditions - 18th century

Slavery - New England - History - 18th century

Slave trade - Africa - History - 18th century

Enslaved persons' writings, American

Africa Description and travel

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Narrative originally transcribed, with commentary, by Benjamin F. Prentiss.

Originally published: St. Alban's, Vt. : Printed by Harry Whitney., 1810.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-237) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Intro -- Contents -- Illustration List -- Preface -- Introduction -- A Note on the Text -- The Blind African Slave -- Or, Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace -- Appendix A: Deeds of Manumission Drawn by William Welch -- Appendix B: Legal Documents Related to Jeffrey Brace's Military Pension Application, 1818-1821 -- Appendix C: Documents related to Jeffrey Brace's Land Transactions and Estate -- Appendix D: A Brace Chronology -- Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

The Blind African Slave recounts the life of Jeffrey Brace (né Boyrereau Brinch), who was born in West Africa around 1742. Captured by slave



traders at the age of sixteen, Brace was transported to Barbados, where he experienced the shock and trauma of slave-breaking and was sold to a New England ship captain. After fighting as an enslaved sailor for two years in the Seven Years War, Brace was taken to New Haven, Connecticut, and sold into slavery. After several years in New England, Brace enlisted in the Continental Army in hopes of winning his manumission. After five years of military service, he was honorably discharged and was freed from slavery. As a free man, he chose in 1784 to move to Vermont, the first state to make slavery illegal. There, he met and married an African woman, bought a farm, and raised a family. Although literate, he was blind when he decided to publish his life story, which he narrated to a white antislavery lawyer, Benjamin Prentiss, who published it in 1810. Upon his death in 1827, Brace was a well-respected abolitionist. In this first new edition since 1810, Kari J. Winter provides a historical introduction, annotations, and original documents that verify and supplement our knowledge of Brace's life and times.