Runaway slave's book to hit shelves

Slavery built the Old South of the United States

A manuscript by a runaway slave dating back 150 years is to be published this week.

The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts tells the apparently autobiographical story of her life as a young house slave in North Carolina, ending in her flight to New Jersey.

It was described by its publishers, Warner Books, as "the only known novel by a female African American slave, and quite possibly the first novel written by a black woman anywhere".

The 300-page manuscript was discovered last year by Henry Louis Gates Jr, a professor of Afro-American studies at Harvard.

Slave sales were often advertised

"It's like reading over the shoulder of a fugitive slave," he told USA Today.

"There's no meditation between her and the text, no abolitionist telling her how or what to write."

The work, described as a celebration of freedom, was written using a sharpened goose quill on manuscript made from linen and cotton rag paper.

Experts have dated the age of the paper and ink to prove that it was authentic and written before 1860.

It will be published unedited, preserving the author's spelling mistakes and crossings-out.

Influence

The novel offers insight into the relationship between women slaves and slave owners' wives, as well describing the prejudice shown by domestic slaves towards those who worked in the fields.

It also mentions the sexual dynamics between the slave owners, their wives and the slaves.

Literary critics believe it may have been influenced by Charles Dickens's Bleak House, which was published a few years earlier.

Little is known about Crafts, who may have been using a pseudonym, and no one has been able to trace any descendants.

Prof Gates is appealing for anyone with a clue to the author's identity to contact him.