The Blind African Slave: Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey BraceThe Blind African Slave recounts the life of Jeffrey Brace (né Boyrereau Brinch), who was born in West Africa around 1742. Captured by slave traders at the age of sixteen, Brace was transported to Barbados, where he experienced the shock and trauma of slave-breaking and was sold to a New England ship captain. After fighting as an enslaved sailor for two years in the Seven Years War, Brace was taken to New Haven, Connecticut, and sold into slavery. After several years in New England, Brace enlisted in the Continental Army in hopes of winning his manumission. After five years of military service, he was honorably discharged and was freed from slavery. As a free man, he chose in 1784 to move to Vermont, the first state to make slavery illegal. There, he met and married an African woman, bought a farm, and raised a family. Although literate, he was blind when he decided to publish his life story, which he narrated to a white antislavery lawyer, Benjamin Prentiss, who published it in 1810. Upon his death in 1827, Brace was a well-respected abolitionist. In this first new edition since 1810, Kari J. Winter provides a historical introduction, annotations, and original documents that verify and supplement our knowledge of Brace's life and times. |
From inside the book
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Page 7
... natural landscape with the eyes of botanists and farm- ers, describing and classifying the vegetation and animals of the region in both English and in Brace's native tongue. Like most travel narratives of this era, the opening chapters ...
... natural landscape with the eyes of botanists and farm- ers, describing and classifying the vegetation and animals of the region in both English and in Brace's native tongue. Like most travel narratives of this era, the opening chapters ...
Page 8
... naturally equal , we , however sable , if wise and virtuous , should be on a level with all mankind ” ( chapter 3 ) . In a particularly bold rhetorical move , Brace suggests that the Bible “ is verified by the ancient customs of my ...
... naturally equal , we , however sable , if wise and virtuous , should be on a level with all mankind ” ( chapter 3 ) . In a particularly bold rhetorical move , Brace suggests that the Bible “ is verified by the ancient customs of my ...
Page 14
... ( Natural Rebels 27 ) . At the time of Brace's enslavement , the British were transporting ap- proximately 42,000 African slaves each year . Brace states that his particu- lar voyage from Africa took about five months , which would have ...
... ( Natural Rebels 27 ) . At the time of Brace's enslavement , the British were transporting ap- proximately 42,000 African slaves each year . Brace states that his particu- lar voyage from Africa took about five months , which would have ...
Page 15
... (Natural Rebels 28). To survive, Brace needed to listen to the stories of his fellows and to articulate his own suffering in nar- rative, elegy, song, protest, and jeremiad. Barbados The Blind African Slave offers a rare glimpse into ...
... (Natural Rebels 28). To survive, Brace needed to listen to the stories of his fellows and to articulate his own suffering in nar- rative, elegy, song, protest, and jeremiad. Barbados The Blind African Slave offers a rare glimpse into ...
Page 18
... natural man must be obliterated and degraded, that even the thought of liberty must never be suffered to contaminate itself in a negro's mind; and the odious thing, equality, should be taught by European discipline never to raise its ...
... natural man must be obliterated and degraded, that even the thought of liberty must never be suffered to contaminate itself in a negro's mind; and the odious thing, equality, should be taught by European discipline never to raise its ...
Contents
3 | |
A Note on the Text | 85 |
The Blind African Slave Or Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace | 87 |
Deeds of Manumission Drawn by William Welch | 185 |
Legal Documents Related to Jeffrey Braces Military Pension Application 18181821 | 193 |
Documents related to Jeffrey Braces Land Transactions and Estate | 217 |
A Brace Chronology | 223 |
Bibliography | 227 |
Other editions - View all
The Blind African Slave: Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace Jeffrey Brace No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
abolitionist African American Albans arrived Autobiography Barbados Beckles Benjamin Prentiss Benjamin Stiles Blind African Slave Boyrereau Bridgetown Brinch British Capt Captain century chapter christian Church colonies color commanded Connecticut Continental Army Cothren Court David death deponent died Dogon England English enlisted enslaved Equiano father Franklin County Georgia Goram Haven Hinman History household indentured indentured servants Indian Isaac Mills Island James Jeffery Jeffrey Brace John Judge king’s kingdom of Bow-woo labor land language Litchfield County lived London Lord manumission manumitted married Martin Powell Mary Stiles master memoir Middle Passage Milford Mills Moses mulatto narrative narrator native Negro man slave Niger Office person Poultney Poultney Town Prentiss Public Records regiment Revolutionary river sailed Samuel servants Seth Wetmore Sheldon ship slave named slave trade slavery sold soldiers Southbury thou tion town tree unto Vermont whipped wife William Welch woman women Woodbury York