The House of Bondage or Charlotte Brooks and Other Slaves

by Albert, Octavia V. Rogers; Foster, Frances Smith

• ISBN13: 9780195052633
• ISBN10: 0195052633
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1988-04-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Setting out to correct the inadequacies of many written accounts of slavery, teacher and social activist Octavia Albert added her own incisive commentary to the personal narratives of former slaves. Her early interviews, like many antebellum slave narratives, depict cruel punishments, divided families, and debilitating labour. Seeing herself as a public advocate for social change, Albert called for every Christian's personal acceptance of responsibility for slavery's legacies and lessons. As well as its historical value, the book has many merits as a work of literature, using dialogue and experiments with dialect, and incorporating songs and poems in the text.

Table of Contents

Publisher's Note	p. vi
Foreword: In Her Own Write	p. vii
A Note from the Schomburg Center	p. xxiii
Introduction	p. xxvii
Works Cited	p. xlii
Preface	p. xlvii
Introduction	p. liii
The Author	p. lvii
Charlotte Brooks	p. 1
Charlotte's Story	p. 7
Aunt Charlotte's Friends	p. 14
Cruel Masters	p. 21
Great Tribulations	p. 27
A Kind Mistress	p. 35
Broken-Down Freedmen	p. 42
The Curse of Whisky	p. 49
John and Lorendo	p. 57
A Converted Catholic	p. 65
Prison Horrors	p. 75
Sallie Smith's Story	p. 86
In the Woods	p. 94
Uncle Stephen Jordon	p. 101
Counterfeit Free Papers	p. 109
Uncle Cephas's Story	p. 119
A Colored Soidier	p. 129
Negro Government	p. 138
The Colored Delegates	p. 148
A Touching Incident	p. 156
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.