Slave Narratives

Fredrick Douglass

Fredrick Douglass was a slave in. He escaped to freedom on September 3, 1836. After he escaped he became an Abolishonist. He gave lots of speeches at Massachusitts anti- slavery society. He also wrote books. His first autobiography was Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Fredrick Douglass was also the first black man to be invited into the white house to see the president.

Sojourner Truth

She was born into slavery around 1797. She was one of 3 children. She was bought and resold 4 times. John Dumont, her fourth master forced her to marry and older slave. They had 5 children named Diana, Elizabeth, Hannah, Peter and Sophia. After the emancipation was signed she escaped with infant Sophia. She didn't take her other children because they had to be a slave until their twenties.

When she got to freedom she became an abolitionist. She gave lots of speeches and published books. Her first book was published privately in 1850 by William Lloyd Garrison. It was called A Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. Her most famous speech was Ain't I A Woman. She delivered it in May 1851 at Ohio Woman's Rights Convention.

Solomon Bayley

No one knows when he was born or died because it wasn't recorded. In 1825 he wrote his autobiography called 'A Narrative of Some' Remarkable Incidents in the Life of Solomon Bayley. Some of his writing tell the story of how he escaped and reunited with his wife. His master recaptured him and he was taken back. Solomon eventually was able to buy his way out of slavery. Shortly after he bought and freed his wife and children.


George Washington Carver wrote and documented many things about his life. He kept a diary as well and wrote in it frequently. He also wrote about all his inventions for peanuts which made him famous. I think everybody should think of him whenever they eat peanut butter. What many people don't know about him is that he was also a teacher and helped greatly in the extension of black schools. He also published more than 44 Tuskegee Station bulletins! George washington Carver is a great example of what a black people could accomplish in the 1800's (under the wright circumstances of course.)
Slave narratives were like a time capsule for that era... Without them we probably wouldn't have near the amount of knowledge about slavery in America. In fact we probably wouldn't even know people like Soujurn Truth and very very little about Fredrick Douglas. It's not just us that would have no idea what being a slave at that time was like. Slave owners would be clueless as well. Which means that without slave narratives to inform people, the civil war could have played out much more differently.