Slavery and Literature Narratives and fiction

The Civil War was about slavery.

Slavery ended in 1864

The slave trade ended in 1807

Great Britain was the first county to import slaves.

Slaves all came from Africa

A book brought about the end of slavery

The Underground Railroad moved North to South.

Phillis Wheatley ✓ Enslaved at age 8 ✓ Named after the boat that brought her over and the family that raised her. ✓ Personal servant for Susanna Wheatley ✓ Christian family taught her to read and write ✓ They are also responsible for her being published. ✓ Writes poetry ✓ Encourages against slavery ✓ “God-forsaken Africa” ✓ First African-American published.

Olauduh Equiano ✓ Also known as Gustavus Vassa. ✓ Freeman ✓ Begins slavery in Africa- Different village ✓ Buys his freedom ✓ Travels the world exploring and writing ✓ Learns to read and write from owners- based in Christianity ✓ Writes a narrative about life ripped from Africa ✓ Brings about the end of the slave trade in Britain ✓ Sends him into speaking tour

Olauduh Equiano ✓ The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African ✓ Published 1789 ✓ Traces Africa to England to War of 1812 to Jamaica to Spain ✓ “I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as friendly; and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergo. I was not long suffered to indulge my grief; I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing.”

Frederick Douglass ✓ Escapes Slavery- Buys freedom later ✓ Becomes spokesperson for abolitionists ✓ Believed in everyone’s freedom ✓ "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.” ✓ Taught to read and write by sister of his owner ✓ She was an abolitionist ✓ "knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom.” ✓ He taught other slaves about the Bible

Frederick Douglass ✓ Autobiography: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, American Slave ✓ First Published in 1845 ✓ Reprinted three more times ✓ Toured Europe talking about his life ✓ Experience with National Politics ✓ Abraham Lincoln’s advisor on the treatment of black soldiers ✓ In 1852 Rochester, New York asks him to speak for July 4- he speaks his mind.

Harriet Beecher Stowe ✓ White Abolitionist ✓ Stop on the Underground Railroad ✓ Went to Seminary: religious training. ✓ Uncle Tom’s Cabin ✓ Fiction depicting slavery ✓ International Best Seller ✓ Wins sympathy for the cause ✓ Lincoln said, “So you're the little lady who started this great war!”

Harriet Beecher Stowe ✓ Uncle Tom’s Cabin ✓ Uncle Tom is a slave- see his interactions ✓ Uncle Tom is either sympathetic or pitiful ✓ “ A black man who will do anything to stay in good standing with "the white man" including betray his own people” ✓ Begins with depiction of slave trade ✓ Originally published in Serial Form

Harlem Renaissance ✓ During the 1920s ✓ Neighborhood in New York City ✓ Finally black authors become a legit literary voice- not just someone pushing abolition ✓ Some of the most famous black authors ✓ Langston Hughes ✓ Zora Neal Hurston

Current Authors ✓ Toni Morrison ✓ Writes the spiritual myths with the pain ✓ Regularly takes several generations into her stories ✓ Encourages dark imagery to be beautiful ✓ Alice Walker ✓ Most famous for The Color Purple ✓ Writes more on the effects of slavery on the black community ✓ Struggled with personal life