Books with title Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black

First published in 1859, Our Nig is an autobiographical narrative that stands as one of the most important accounts of the life of a black woman in the antebellum North. In the story of Frado, a spirited black girl who is abused and overworked as the indentured servant to a New England family, Harriet E. Wilson tells a heartbreaking story about the resilience of the human spirit. The female child of a white female outcast and a black freeman, Harriet Wilson gives a detailed account of what it was like being raised by a white family in the pre-Civil War North of the United States (a household where she was abandoned by her mother at 3). This biography gives a general idea of what a Negro's life in the North was like -- and it was not much different from that life of a slave in the South. The mistress of the house was brutal beyond measure, but many of the other family members were reasonably kind (though not kind of enough to put a stop to the abuse), and it makes one shudder to think of what could have happened in a family who had nothing but Negro-haters in it. Still, Wilson recounts how she got a small measure of schooling, and how she eventually became a Christian (something which the lady of the house -- a Christian herself -- opposed) and her eventual marriage. An upsetting story, it is nevertheless of much more value than "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as it was told from the point of view of the victim and not a sympathetic white.

"I sat up most of the night reading and pondering the enormous significance of Harriet Wilson's Our Nig." — Author Alice WalkerThis seminal autobiographical novel, originally published in 1859, is believed to have been the first by an African-American woman. Harriet Wilson's compelling story describes the life of a mulatto girl who, after the death of her mother, is exploited first by a terrifying Northern family for whom she worked and then by an opportunistic husband.A classic of African-American literature, Our Nig has made an enduring contribution to understanding the lives of free blacks in the nineteenth century. A fascinating combination of slave narrative and sentimental novel, the story traces the hardships and suffering of Frado, who grows up as an indentured servant to a white family in Massachusetts and spends much of her destitute life wandering through New England.A clear and accurate account of race relations and perceptions of race in the antebellum North, Our Nig is essential reading for students of African-American history and culture.

This is the autobiographical novel by Harriet Wilson, the first African-American to publish a novel in North America. Originally published in 1859, it was rediscovered in 1982. The novel begins as Frado, a six-year-old mulatto, is abandoned by her white mother. While serving the Bellmont family as an indentured servant, she is treated cruelly. Frado earns her freedom at the age of 18 but has many difficulties earning a living on her own. She marries Tom, a fugitive slave and a lecturer for the Abolitionist Movement. Frado has a baby, but is again abandoned and must find a way to support herself. At the end of the novel, the author appeals in her own voice for sales of her book.

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.

[COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGED]Wilson's autobiographical novel Our Nig was published in 1859. Our Nig illustrates the injustice of the indentured servitude system of the antebellum northern United States.Harriet E. Wilson (March 15, 1825 - June 28, 1900) is traditionally considered the first female African-American novelist as well as the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

"I sat up most of the night reading and pondering the enormous significance of Harriet Wilson's Our Nig." — Author Alice WalkerThis seminal autobiographical novel, originally published in 1859, is believed to have been the first by an African-American woman. Harriet Wilson's compelling story describes the life of a mulatto girl who, after the death of her mother, is exploited first by a terrifying Northern family for whom she worked and then by an opportunistic husband.A classic of African-American literature, Our Nig has made an enduring contribution to understanding the lives of free blacks in the nineteenth century. A fascinating combination of slave narrative and sentimental novel, the story traces the hardships and suffering of Frado, who grows up as an indentured servant to a white family in Massachusetts and spends much of her destitute life wandering through New England.A clear and accurate account of race relations and perceptions of race in the antebellum North, Our Nig is essential reading for students of African-American history and culture.

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.

Wilson's autobiographical novel Our Nig was published in 1859. Our Nig illustrates the injustice of the indentured servitude system of the antebellum northern United States. Harriet E. Wilson (March 15, 1825 - June 28, 1900) is traditionally considered the first female African-American novelist as well as the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent.

There has never been any race that has suffered the injustice that Africans have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of Europeans. African lives were uprooted from their natural environments and forced into unspeakable cruelty in Europe and the Americas. Since then according to Chinua Achebe: “Things Fall Apart.” Wilson's autobiographical novel Our Nig was published in 1859. Our Nig illustrates the injustice of the indentured servitude system of the antebellum northern United States. Harriet E. Wilson (March 15, 1825 - June 28, 1900) is traditionally considered the first female African-American novelist as well as the first African American of any gender to publish a novel in North America.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.