'Moira Ferguson deserves to be highly commended for this latest edition of The History of Mary Prince, not least because of the book's timeless relevance and value as one of the first oral accounts of slavery by a black woman who escaped from slavery in the British colonies, but especially because the reworked and expanded introduction and full compendium of highly informative appendices do much to help us unravel and understand the complexity of the slavery experience. Ryan Professor of English and Women's Literature, University of Nebraska. This new material brings greater depth and detail and serves to more fully illustrate and contextualize the life of this remarkable woman.

The book includes new details of Mary Prince's experiences as a freewoman in England, the transcripts of several libel cases brought against her, and the reactions of British society, as seen in prominent periodicals of the day, against the original publication of The History of Mary Prince. In this revised and expanded edition of The History of Mary Prince, Ferguson has added new material, based on her extensive research in Bermuda and London. Mary Prince's story has also been the centerpiece of BBC radio broadcasts. Recently, an adaptation of the memoirs of Mary Prince appeared as one segment of 'A Skirt Through History,' a six-part feature film series produced by the BBC. The book has found popularity both in the classroom and with the general public. Moira Ferguson's edition of the book added an introduction, annotations, and appendices. Never before had the sufferings and indignities of enslavement been seen through the eyes of a woman-a woman struggling for freedom in the face of great odds. In this unique document, Mary Prince vividly recalls her life as a slave in Bermuda, Turks Island, and Antigua, her rebellion against physical and psychological degradation, and her eventual escape to London in 1828.įirst published in London and Edinburgh in 1831, and well into its third edition that year, The History of Mary Prince inflamed public opinion and created political havoc. Mary Prince was the first black British woman to escape from slavery and publish a record of her experiences.

The history of mary prince sparknotes