![]() ![]() ![]() But Our Nig's long subtitle gave clues historians would later pick apart: " Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in a Two-Story White House, North Showing That Slavery's Shadow Falls Even There." In the novel, Wilson did not say much about the story's setting or about herself. It's also emblematic of how important pieces of African American history can be forgotten - and then rediscovered. Wilson's book called out racism among abolitionists in the North. It was shocking that it happened in the North because that's not our story. "But it's not any more shocking than anything that you didn't know about slavery. "Some of the things she wrote in her book were shocking," says JerriAnne Boggis, founder and director of The Harriet Wilson Project. Even the kindest members of the family call her "nig." ![]() The girl is tortured by the family matriarch, beaten and forced to sleep in a frigid crawl space. That name is a derivative of a racist nickname given to the book's protagonist, a little girl of mixed race who grows up as an indentured servant to a white family. In 1859, Wilson published a book that she gave a provocative title: Our Nig. ![]() Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Our Nig Subtitle or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black Author Harriet E. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |