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Life of John Thompson, a Fugitive Slave. Containing His History of 25 Years in Bondage, and His Providential Escape. Written By Himself.
Worcester: John Thompson, 1856. 12mo (7.25” x 5”), publisher’s gilt- and blind-stamped brown cloth, rebacked with original spine laid down. 1 blank leaf, half title, [i]–vi, [13]–143 pp., 1 blank leaf. CONDITION: Very good, light wear to covers, occasional light foxing to contents, .5” loss to lower-right corner of p. 143, not affecting text. First edition of this self-published narrative by John Thompson, chronicling his early life as a slave in Maryland, his successful escape to Pennsylvania, and his voyage aboard the New Bedford whaling ship Milwood to avoid recapture. Born into slavery in Maryland to two field hands in 1812, John Thompson was secretly taught to read as a child by the young Wagar children whose lunch he carried to school each morning, and following his escape from slavery he became a sailor and author. Little is known about his life beyond what he has recorded in this account, which begins with his earliest memory: the sale, when he was six years old, of his older sister: It seemed to me to be a hell upon earth…As soon as my sister saw our mother, she ran to her and fell upon her neck, but was unable to speak a word. There was a scene which angels witnessed; there were tears which, I believe, were bottled and placed in God’s depository, there to be reserved until the day when He shall pour His wrath upon this guilty nation… Thompson’s narrative describes the innumerable cruelties of whites; his conversion to Methodism and the growing religious consciousness among slaves in Maryland; the formative importance of his ability to read; and his experiences with masters, employers, overseers, constables, and fellow slaves. Following the death of the “old Mistress” in 1822 and the subsequent division of the Wagar property, Thompson and his family were sold, and for many years Thompson was continually hired out, moving from plantation to plantation. In the 1830s, after being wrongly accused of forging passes by which several slaves had escaped, Thompson ran away himself, reaching Philadelphia and after a harrowing northward journey with a friend. There, he found employment and married, but after several fugitive slaves in Philadelphia were recognized and arrested, Thompson traveled to New York, and then to New Bedford, where he bluffed his way into a job as a steward aboard the Milwood. The captain, despite finding out his lie, “became as kind as a father to me,” taking him under his wing throughout the Milwood’s two-year voyage, which carried him “along the Outer Banks of Newfoundland, south along the coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope to Madagascar, into the Indian Ocean, and as far as New Zealand.” Thompson’s narrative provides detailed descriptions of life and work aboard the ship, as well as his experiences and observations in its various ports of call. The narrative closes with his return to New Bedford and his eager departure for Philadelphia to reunite with his wife. Thompson ultimately moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he published this narrative. It was announced as a new publication in The Liberator in August of 1856, with the words: “The unusual opportunities which John Thompson enjoyed of acquiring an education by stealth have enabled him to tell his story in a clear, connected, and interesting manner…We trust the Worcester people have the power as well as the will to protect him from further dangers.” An unusual self-published narrative by a fugitive slave from Maryland who, following his escape, recorded his two-year voyage around the world on a New Bedford whaling ship. REFERENCES: Not in Library Company, Black Soldiers, Black Sailors, Black Ink; Blockson 9660; Afro-Americana 10230; Malburne, Meredith. “John Thompson, b. 1812” at Documenting the American South, sponsored by UNC Chapel Hill online; The Liberator, August 22, 1856, p. 2.
Item #9495
Price: $6,500.00
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