The autobiographies of former slaves contributed powerfully to the
abolitionist movement in the United States, fanning national--even
international--indignation against the evils of slavery. The four
texts gathered here are all from North Carolina slaves and are
among the most memorable and influential slave narratives published
in the nineteenth century. The writings of Moses Roper (1838),
Lunsford Lane (1842), Moses Grandy (1843), and the Reverend Thomas
H. Jones (1854) provide a moving testament to the struggles of
enslaved people to affirm their human dignity and ultimately seize
their liberty.
Introductions to each narrative provide biographical and historical
information as well as explanatory notes. Andrews's general
introduction to the collection reveals that these narratives not
only helped energize the abolitionist movement but also laid the
groundwork for an African American literary tradition that inspired
such novelists as Toni Morrison and Charles Johnson.