This course honors the political intent of slave narratives—to advocate for the freedom of enslaved people—while approaching them as sophisticated works of literature. As we trace the genre from its beginnings in Britain’s slaveholding colonies to its development in the United States, we’ll pay particular attention to how enslaved or formerly enslaved authors got their stories into print. How did these authors navigate constraints posed by limited literacy, money, and autonomy to reach an audience of middle-class white people with money to spend on luxury items like books? What rhetorical techniques and textual strategies did they use to convince this readership to support the abolition of slavery? How did antislavery networks and societies both help and hinder Black authors? And how did slave narratives help shape other kinds of texts by Black authors, from newspapers to novels?
Through activities including a visit to the UW’s special collections library, the exploration of online archives, and experimentation with digital platforms used for editing and transcription, we’ll explore how slave narratives have been preserved for future generations of readers, and how we can make them accessible to a broad reading public. As we work with rare materials in special collections and online, we’ll ask: How do we make use of archives that may be damaged and incomplete? What are the ethical issues at stake in editing Black authored texts? How can we make them accessible to a broad public in a responsible way?
No prior familiarity with slave narratives is necessary to succeed in this class, but consistent attendance will be important because we will be working on collaborative projects during our class time. Assignments will be geared toward making what we learn visible to others.
Course texts include:
William Andrews and Henry Louis Gates, eds. Slave Narratives (Library of America)
Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince (Penguin)
Frances Smith Foster, ed. Three Rediscovered Novels by Frances E. W. Harper (Beacon Press)