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Book/Printed Material Thirty years a slave. From bondage to freedom. The institution of slavery as seen on the plantation and in the home of the planter

About this Item

Title

  • Thirty years a slave. From bondage to freedom. The institution of slavery as seen on the plantation and in the home of the planter

Summary

  • Louis Hughes was born in Virginia (1832), but was sold (1844) in the Richmond slave market to a cotton planter and his wife who lived on the Mississippi River. Later, he traveled with them to their new home in Memphis, Tennessee, and spent time during the Civil War in Alabama. Hughes made five attempts to escape, alone and with his wife and friends, but he and his wife succeeded in finding freedom only after Emancipation. Eventually, after reuniting with several members of their family and seeking a livelihood in various Southern, Midwestern and Canadian cities (Memphis, Cincinnati, Hamilton, Windsor, Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland), they settled in Milwaukee, where Hughes became a nurse, drawing on skills he had developed while treating the illnesses of his fellow slaves. Thirty Years a Slave provides a great deal of information about the complex relationships between slaves and masters, along with graphic accounts of the physical abuse slaves endured, and details about slave markets, slave religion, and the organization of plantation work. Hughes also remembers the desire for learning he felt when he was a slave and recalls the varied tasks he performed in his masters' households.

Names

  • Hughes, Louis, 1832-1913

Created / Published

  • Milwaukee, South Side Printing Company, 1897.

Headings

  • -  Hughes, Louis,--1832-1913
  • -  Slavery--United States
  • -  Slavery--United States--Personal narratives
  • -  Enslaved persons--Emancipation--United States

Notes

  • -  Also available in digital form.

Medium

  • 210 p. front. (port.) plates (facsims.) 22 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • E444 .H89

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 11021103

Online Format

  • online text
  • image
  • pdf

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17, U.S.C.) or any other restrictions in the materials in the Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910 materials. The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials for educational and research purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other rights holders (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Credit Line: Library of Congress, General Collections and Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Further copyright information is also available at American Memory and Copyright.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Hughes, Louis. Thirty years a slave. From bondage to freedom. The institution of slavery as seen on the plantation and in the home of the planter. Milwaukee, South Side Printing Company, 1897. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/11021103/.

APA citation style:

Hughes, L. (1897) Thirty years a slave. From bondage to freedom. The institution of slavery as seen on the plantation and in the home of the planter. Milwaukee, South Side Printing Company. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/11021103/.

MLA citation style:

Hughes, Louis. Thirty years a slave. From bondage to freedom. The institution of slavery as seen on the plantation and in the home of the planter. Milwaukee, South Side Printing Company, 1897. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/11021103/>.