Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave
Henry Walton Bibb was born a slave. His father was white although his identity was not positively known. Bibb was separated from his mother at a very young age and hired out to other slave owners for most of his childhood. Always yearning for his freedom, he made his first escape from slavery in 1842. He was recaptured and escaped, recaptured and escaped over and over; but he never gave up on his desire to be a man in control of his own destiny.
Bibb eventually escaped the bondage of servitude for good and dedicated his life to speaking out against the institution of slavery. In the process he helped others obtain their freedom. He published Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, and American Slave in 1849 telling the story of his daily life as a slave, as a runaway and as a free man. He also illustrated the depravity of that “man-destroying system” and the “idea of utter helplessness in perpetual bondage.”
Bibb stated in his Author's Preface that there were other very popular slave narratives published before his own; nevertheless, the uniqueness of his story is in the details of his experiences which, like the others, shine a glaringly truthful beam of light on the sins of this nation. Ultimately Bibb made his way to Canada where in 1851 he published the first black newspaper of that Country, Voice of the Fugitive. He died in 1854 at the age of 39. (Introduction by James K. White)
Genre(s): Biography & Autobiography
Language: English
Keyword(s): slavery (143), Kentucky (34), black history (26), civil rights (15)
Section | Chapter | Reader | Time |
---|---|---|---|
Play 00 | Introduction; Report; Author's Preface | James K. White |
00:29:00 |
Play 01 | Chapter I | James K. White |
00:10:59 |
Play 02 | Chapter II | James K. White |
00:18:40 |
Play 03 | Chapter III | James K. White |
00:21:01 |
Play 04 | Chapter IV | James K. White |
00:16:05 |
Play 05 | Chapter V | James K. White |
00:21:45 |
Play 06 | Chapter VI | James K. White |
00:18:13 |
Play 07 | Chapter VII | James K. White |
00:16:53 |
Play 08 | Chapter VIII | James K. White |
00:11:11 |
Play 09 | Chapter IX | James K. White |
00:14:50 |
Play 10 | Chapter X | James K. White |
00:10:12 |
Play 11 | Chapter XI | James K. White |
00:15:34 |
Play 12 | Chapter XII | James K. White |
00:17:05 |
Play 13 | Chapter XIII | James K. White |
00:12:46 |
Play 14 | Chapter XIV | James K. White |
00:11:12 |
Play 15 | Chapter XV | James K. White |
00:11:14 |
Play 16 | Chapter XVI | James K. White |
00:14:57 |
Play 17 | Chapter XVII | James K. White |
00:20:09 |
Play 18 | Chapter XVIII | James K. White |
00:09:00 |
Play 19 | Chapter XIX | James K. White |
00:08:45 |
Play 20 | Chapter XX | James K. White |
00:09:51 |