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