Harriet E. Wilson

Frado, a mixed-race girl abandoned by her white mother after the death of her black father, takes a job as a servant in the household of the Bellmonts, a lower middle-class white family in the North, only to encounter a world of abuse and abandonment, in a new edition of the first novel published by an African-American author in the U.S. Reprint.

Our Nig, Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black

Gabrielle Foreman

Reginald Pitts

or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black

Our Nig

Frederick Douglass

William Wells Brown

The Heroic Slave; Clotel; Our Nig

Three Classic African-American Novels

The very first known novel in English by a black woman, it was published in 1859 and 'disappeared' for many decades. Now, once again available, it tells the story of Frado, a mulatto girl abandoned by her white mother after the death of the child's black father, who grows up as an indentured servant to a white family. Originally titled Our Nig.

The Soul of a Woman

Pier Gabrielle Foreman

Frado, a mixed-race girl abandoned by her white mother after the death of her black father, takes a job as a servant to a lower middle-class white family in the North, only to encounter a world of abuse and abandonment.

Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black

A Novel

First published in 1859, Our Nig is an autobiographical narrative that stands as one of the most important accounts of the life of a black woman in the antebellum North. In the story of Frado, a spirited black girl who is abused and overworked as the indentured servant to a New England family, Harriet E. Wilson tells a heartbreaking story about the resilience of the human spirit. This edition incorporates new research showing that Wilson was not only a pioneering African-American literary figure but also an entrepreneur in the black women's hair care market fifty years before Madame C. J. Walker's hair care empire made her the country's first woman millionaire.

Our Nig; Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in a Two-story White House

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Our Nig - Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in a Two-Story White House, North

LONELY MAG SMITH! See her as she walks with downcast eyes and heavy heart. It was not always thus. She HAD a loving, trusting heart. Early deprived of parental guardianship, far removed from relatives, she was left to guide her tiny boat over life's surges alone and inexperienced. As she merged into womanhood, unprotected, uncherished, uncared for, there fell on her ear the music of love, awakening an intensity of emotion long dormant. It whispered of an elevation before unaspired to; of ease and plenty her simple heart had never dreamed of as hers. She knew the voice of her charmer, so ravishing, sounded far above her. It seemed like an angel's, alluring her upward and onward. She thought she could ascend to him and become an equal. She surrendered to him a priceless gem, which he proudly garnered as a trophy, with those of other victims, and left her to her fate. The world seemed full of hateful deceivers and crushing arrogance. Conscious that the great bond of union to her former companions was severed, that the disdain of others would be insupportable, she determined to leave the few friends she possessed, and seek an asylum among strangers. Her offspring came unwelcomed, and before its nativity numbered weeks, it passed from earth, ascending to a purer and better life. - Taken from "Our Nig: or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black" written by Harriet E. Wilson

Harriet E. Wilson was an African-American novelist. She was the first African American to publish a novel on the North American continent. She wrote one novel. Wilson later was associated with the Spiritualist church, was paid on the public lecture circuit for her lectures about her life, and worked as a housekeeper in a boarding house.

Our Nig or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black. Illustrated

Our Nig; Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in a Two-story White House, North

"A fascinating fusion of two literary modes of the 19th century, the sentimental novel and the slave narrative, Our nig, apart from its historical significance, is a deeply ironic and highly readable work, tracing the trials and tribulations of Frado, a mulatto girl abandoned by her white mother after the death of the child's black father, who grows up as an indentured servant to a white family in 19th century Massachusetts."--Cover.

Our Nig, Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, in a Two-story White House, North, Showing that Slavery's Shadows Fall Even There

Our Nig is an an autobiographical novel by Harriet E. Wilson, her only published work. It was written not for pleasure, but to financially support the lives of the author and her sick child. It was long considered to be the first novel published by an African-American woman in the United States, but recent research has put that title into question. Frado, born to a white mother and black father, is abandoned by her parents at age six and left to the Bellmont family. Though the Bellmonts live in the northern United States, the matriarch of the family, Mrs. Bellmont, loathes her for her dark skin color. She forces Frado (nicknamed “Nig”) to do the chores of the family under the threat of rawhide floggings and beatings. However, not everyone agrees with Mrs. Bellmont’s treatment of their new family member. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

Excerpt from Our Nig: Or Sketches From the Life of a Free Black in a Two-Story White House, North My humble position and frank confession of errors will, I hope, shield me from severe criticism. Indeed, defects are so apparent it requires no skilful hand to expose them. I sincerely appeal to my colored brethren universally for patronage, hoping they will not condemn this attempt of their sister to be erudite, but rally around me a faithful band of supporters and defenders. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in a Two-Story White House, North (Classic Reprint)

Harriet E. Wilson (1825-1900) was the first female African-American novelist as well as the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent. She was born in Milford, New Hampshire, the daughter of an African American "hooper of barrels." Her father died when she was very young, and her mother abandoned her at the farm of Nehemiah Hayward Jr., a well-to-do Milford farmer. After the end of her indenture, she worked as a house servant and a seamstress in households in southern New Hampshire and in central and western Massachusetts, until she married Thomas Wilson in 1851. However, he soon abandoned her. Pregnant and ill, she was sent to the Hillsborough County Poor Farm in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where her only son, George Mason Wilson, was born. She then moved to Boston, Massachusetts to seek a living for herself and her son. While in Boston, she wrote Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in 1859. Despite her active and fruitful life after Our Nig, there is no evidence that she ever wrote anything else for publication.

Our Nig; Or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black (Dodo Press)

Reproduction of the original: Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson

Harriet E. Wilson

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