Our Nig; or, Sketches from the life of a free Black: in a two-story white house, North, showing that slavery's shadows fall even there
Publication/Origin:
Boston: Printed by Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 1859
Description:
Our Nig is the first novel written by an African American and published in the United States. Wilson wrote it to raise funds to care for her sick son George and published it anonymously. The story recounts the oppression of free blacks as indentured servants in the north. Wilson herself had been indentured until the age of eighteen as a house servant. Our Nig was the only novel she wrote. Later in life, she was active in the spiritualist community as a medium.
Citation:
Wilson, Harriet E. , Our Nig; or, Sketches from the life of a free Black: in a two-story white house, North, showing that slavery's shadows fall even there, Boston: Printed by Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 1859, Lisa Unger Baskin Collection, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Accessed March 20, 2023, https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/baskin/item/4161
