By an amendment to the Constitution the Negro was given the right of franchise, and, theoretically at least, his ballot became his invaluable emblem of citizenship.

sbebecamemoreandmoreabsorbedinthenarrative,hiseyesassumedadreamyexpression,andheseemedtolosesightofhisauditors,andtobeliving overagaininmonologuehislifeontheoldplantation.

Herespectfullyroseasweapproached,andwasmoving away,whenIbeggedhimtokeephisseat

buggy

his, then, is the end of his striving: to be a co-worker in the kingdom of culture, to escape both death and isolation, to husband and use his best powers and his latent genius. These powers of body and mind have in the past been strangely wasted, dispersed, or forgotten.

oasis of simple faith and reverence in a dusty desert of dollars and smartness. Will America be poorer if she replace her brutal dyspeptic blundering with light-hearted but determined Negro humility? or her coarse and cruel wit with loving jovial good-humor? or her vulgar music with the soul of the Sorrow Songs?

schoolhouse, something put it into the boys' and girls' heads to buy gorgeous visiting-cards--ten cents a package--and exchange. The exchange was merry, till one girl, a tall newcomer, refused my card,--refused it peremptorily, with a glance. Then it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others;

Not that great German master in his dream

I told him that I was ready to die, but that he could not conquer me. In struggling with him I bit his finger severely, when he seized a heavy stick and beat me with it in a shameful manner.

I also have painted the bright side.

dear little friend of mine was buried

I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away

seven years

. I once did believe in religion, but now Ihave no confidence in it.

I'm tired looking the other side; I want a hope this side of the vale of tears.I want something on this earth as well as a promise of things in anotherworld. I and my wife have been both robbed of our liberty, and you want meto be satisfied with a hope of heaven. I won't do any such thing; I have waitedlong enough on heavenly promises; I'll wait no longer. I——”

American side—Captain Juan Garcia and Captain JoseCastello, those of Cuban interest.

HEN I first published this Narrative, the public had no evidence whatever that I had been a slave, except my own story.

The Yankees are noted for making the most cruel overseers.

It was here that I witnessed the bloody transaction recorded in the first chapter; and as I received my first impressions of slavery on this plantation

My father was a white man.

1822-1871

.. •.1 SOJOURNER TRUTH ca. 1799-1883

--Here let me ask Mr. Jefferson, (but he is gone to answer at the bar of God, for the deeds done in his body while living,) I therefore ask the whole American people, had I not rather die, or be put to death, than to be a slave to any tyrant, who takes not only my own, but my wife and children's lives by the inches? Yea, would I meet death with avidity far! far! ! in preference to such servile submission to the murderous hands of tyrants. M

        "And Pharaoh, said unto Joseph, thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou."*         * See Genesis, chap. xli.         "And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt."**         ** xli. 44.         "And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt."***

-Can our condition be any worse?

'Jesus and Mary ... don't you hear her calhng "'It's nothing, I tell you.' . , ,c ' voice. "'Let me go ... let me go ... it's my wue s "'No, it's the gasps of a dying woman.' "'Wretch, you're lying .... ' "'I poisoned her .... ' "'Oh!' · , "'Do you hear those cries ... they're hers. "'Th D ·t ' e e~.... , "'Do you hear those screams ... they're hers. · "'A curse .... '

"For Georges also, there was happiness in this child's arrival. For if he had hoped for three years without attempting to strike back at his wife's execu-tioner; if ~e had lai~ sleepless so many nights, with fury in his heart and a hand on his dagger, 1t was because he was waiting for Alfred t fi d h·mself l.k G . h ·c d o n i ' 1 e eorges, wit a ':u.e an a so~. It was because he wished to kill him only when dear and precious bonds lmked him to this Id G h d I · · d I · . h wor .

"'Expensive?' replied the auctioneer, with an air of surprise. 'But surely you see how pretty she is; how clear her skin is, how firm her flesh is. She's eigh-teen years old at the most .... ' Even as he spoke, he ran his shameless hands all over the ample and half-naked form of the beautiful African.

"'Fifteen hundred piasters,' replied the auctioneer. "'Fifteen hundred piasters,' Alfred rejoined dryly

A crucial point here, however, is that books need not have been the only means of transmitting these texts; oral performance and composi-tion, manuscript copying and exchange, and printed broadsides all were common currency in the revival meetings of the early nineteenth cen-tury.

Allen’s own rural background might help explain the differences between his early collections and those of urban denominational committees in the decades following, and as one last textual example will show, Allen was indeed active in the country in virtual as well as corporeal ways

he Union Church’s signature tradition was a tent meeting known as “Big Quarterly,” which drew thousands from as far away as Virginia, some of whom were slaves who had been granted leave and safe pas-sage to attend the meeting.1

the lost ones are regained. It was Madame Paulina and Amanda, the mother and sister of the unhappy THERESA. S

Toussant: had communicated to the chieftain the object of her visit to his camp, and was receiving all the distinctions due her exalted virtue, and which her dauntless resolution so justly merited.

Who shall reveal them to the Revoluists [

Britannia

While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms

As when Eolus heaven’s fair face deforms

Nor tommy hawked her on the head,

John Sadler fled across the water, And thus escaped the dreadful slaughter.

Samuel Allen like a hero fout, And though he was so brave and bold, His face no more shalt we behold

Being thirty-six years old, I left Col. Smith once for all. I had already been sold three different times, made considerable money with seemingly nothing to derive it from, been cheated out of a large sum of money, lost much by misfortunes, and paid an enormous sum for my freedom.

        Accordingly I hired myself out at Fisher's Island, and earned twenty pounds; thirteen pounds six shillings of which my master drew for the privilege, and the remainder I paid him for my freedom. This made fifty-one pounds two shillings which I paid him.

e. For having struck up a little fire for the purpose of cooking victuals, the enemy who happened to be encamped a little distance off, had sent out a scouting party who discovered us by the smoke of the fire, just as we were extinguishing it, and about to eat.

On the passage, one day, for the diversion of those gentlemen, all the boys were called on the quarter-deck, and were paired proportionably, and then made to fight; after which the gentleman gave the combatants from five to nine shillings each. This was Page 113 the first time I ever fought with a white boy; and I never knew what it was to have a bloody nose before. This made me fight most desperately; I suppose considerably more than an hour:

It was about the beginning of the spring 1757 when I arrived in England, and I was near twelve years of age at that Page 104 time.

dultery, however, was sometimes punished with slavery or death; a punishment which I believe is inflicted on it throughout most of the nations of Africa*:

aridthemarkscameroundmeingreatnumbers;oneofanenormoussize,thatcouldeasilyhavetakenmeintohismouthatonce,passedandrubbed"againstmyside.IthencriedmoreearnestlytotheLordthanIhaddoheforsometimejandhe-whoheardJonah'sprayer,didnotshutoutmine,forIwasthrownaboardagain

ordwaspleasedtosetmysoulatperfectliberty,andbeingfilledwkhjoyIbegantopraisetheLordimmediatelyjmysorrowswereturnedintopeace,andjoyyandlove.Theministersaid,"Howisitnow?"Ianswered,alliswell,allhappy.

thecontentsweredisap*provedofby-her,andshecametoChaHes-Tow«topreventit.Shepersuadedmemu^hagainstitjbutherpersuasionswerefruitless.