The Blind African Slave: Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace

by Jeffrey Brace, Benjamin F. Prentiss Esq., Kari J. Winter

Overview

The narrative, originally transcribed with commentary by Benjamin F. Prentiss, was published in 1810 by St. Albans, Vermont. The narrator tells of his capture, the perfidy of English slave traders, the horror of the Middle Passage, the brutality of slavery in New England, and the difficulties of free life in Vermont. Winter (American studies, State U. of New York-Buffalo) finds it odd that a story including memories of Africa and an account of an African American fighting in the US War of Independence—both rare—would be so totally neglected for two centuries, but finds that until now, no one has done the research necessary to authenticate it. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299201449
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	01/10/2005
Series:	Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography
Edition description:	1
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kari J. Winter is associate professor of American Studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is the author of Subjects of Slavery, Agents of Change: Women and Power in Gothic Novels and Slave Narratives, 1790-1865.

Editorial Reviews

"A unique narrative. . . . Winter should be congratulated for reconstructing Brace’s life, the circumstances of the publication of The Blind African Slave, and the strange career of Benjamin F. Prentiss."—Ira Berlin, author of Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves

"Kari Winter’s research rescues Brace from historical anonymity and places The Blind African Slave into the canon of early African American autobiography."—William L. Andrews, general editor

“[The Blind African Slave] will certainly be important to specialists in the field of transatlantic Black studies."—Vincent Carretta, editor of The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings by Olaudah Equiano

"The memoir, [first] published in 1810, is unusual among slave narratives because of the sweeping time period and geography it covers, including a rare look at slavery in New England."—Stephen Watson, The Buffalo News

From the Publisher