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Clotel; Or the President's Daughter

William Wells Brown

Clotel; Or the President's Daughter

Paperback (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Nov. 6, 2009)
First published in December 1853, "Clotel: or the President's Daughter" was written amid then unconfirmed rumors that Thomas Jefferson had fathered children with one of his slaves. "Clotel: or the President's Daughter" story begins with the auction of his mistress, here called Currer, and their two daughters, Clotel and Althesa. The Virginian who buys Clotel falls in love with her, gets her pregnant, seems to promise marriage-then sells her. Escaping from the slave dealer, Clotel returns to Virginia disguised as a white man in order to rescue her daughter, Mary, a slave in her father's house. A fast-paced and harrowing tale of slavery and freedom, of the hypocrisies of a nation founded on democratic principles, "Clotel: or the President's Daughter" is more than a sensationalist novel. It is a founding text of the African American novelistic tradition, a brilliantly composed and richly detailed exploration of human relations in a new world in which race is a cultural construct.
ISBN
1449586813 / 9781449586812
Pages
106
Weight
6.4 oz.
Dimensions
6.0 x 0.2 in.

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