Fascinating this is both clearly based on autobiographical details and equally clearly contains embellished storylines. First novel written by an African American fugitive 'slave'. I quite enjoyed this. I read Gates research in uncovering and researching this amazing novel. Hannah is observant and her characterization of the Wheelers is well done. I found the beginning and end of the story somewhat silly, as was the style the novel was in. Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the story and was surprised how invested in became. Well done Hannah. ( )

historically, this is 5 stars. it's super interesting - both the context that gates puts this into and all of the research that goes into determining when this was written and who the author was (like dating the ink and paper) - and hugely important if this truly is not just the "first novel written by a female fugitive slave, [but] perhaps the first novel written by any black woman at all." i also thought it was really interesting the way he kept her edits and strikeouts in the text, so we could see how she composed as she went along.

the narration i give 2.5 stars as the story (while so important and moving) is choppy and sometimes oddly focused on tangential stories rather than the main one. (some of these things gates helps me understand is from the author's reading of romantic or gothic stories of the time, which is helpful information.) i'm glad i read this and what a major find it was for gates, and i'm glad that an autobiographical novel written by a woman can be added to the slave narratives that actually detail what slave life was like. and i'm glad that it wasn't edited by a contemporary (white) person, to make it something different. (although had it been, i might have liked the reading experience better.)

"We thought our master must be a very great man to have so much wealth at his command, but it never occurred to us to inquire whose sweat and blood and unpaid labor had contributed to produce it." ( )

This book is the first book written by an ex-slave. It gives an inside view to the nasty institution of slavery. The book is very interesting and very sad. It makes your heart wrench thinking of the hopelessness of Hannah's situation. It also sheds light on a woman who was of mixed race and raised white, who had no idea of her origin of birth. When a nasty man finds out and blackmails her, it drives her mad. The thinking of the day was one drop of Black blood made you Black. It made no difference how you looked or if your father was white. It is a really amazing book. Hannah Crafts was a self taught read er and writer and she did an amazing job getting her story across. ( )

Professor Gates relates how he came to have the manuscript of this novel , how he traced the possible authors of the manuscript and notes show the historians efforts to validate the time and place of the writing.Analysis of the type of paper and ink, style of handwriting and the authors rather romantic, effusive style (reminds one of Dickens) also place the novel in the attested time period. Gates' end notes are quite interestiing.

The plot which involves the story of a young slave girl, her mistress and the difficulties encountered in being sold, escape to freedom and the stories of the unfortunate fate of children of white owners and black servants.

My review from July 8, 2002:

This was the most fascinating book that I've read in ... well, I don't know how long! THE BONDWOMAN'S NARRATIVE is a fictionalized yet seemingly autobiographical slave narrative written by Hannah Crafts somewhere between 1856-1860. Hannah delves into the the mind and heart of a slave by telling the story of a young woman's personal experiences.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who chairs the Department of African American Studies at Harvard University, came across this hand-written manuscript at an auction for African American artifacts. He then embarked upon an amazing research project which explored the author's identity. From scientific analysis of the manuscript (handwriting, ink, paper quality, etc) to actual genealogical research (census reports, etc.), Professor Gates attempts to prove that Hannah Crafts was indeed the first African-American woman to write such a narrative. ...This is part of the book is intriguing although I do have one word of advice here - READ THE NARRATIVE FIRST! If you read the Introduction first, you will know much of the story before actually reading it (in his discussion, he gives away the ending!). By reading the narrative first, I found that I was able to reach some of my own conclusions before reading those of Professor Gates and I better understood the informative analysis!

I usually don't read books more than once but I would read this one again! ( )