North Carolina Slave Narratives by William L. Andrews

Author:William L. Andrews
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

Note on the Text

During his fund-raising mission to the British Isles, Moses Grandy sought the assistance of British abolitionist George Thompson when composing his autobiography in the fall of 1842. Grandy, illiterate since slavery, dictated his life history to Thompson; and though Thompson exerted influence over the text as its transcriber and editor, he insisted that Grandy maintained authorial control. Thompson limited his commentary to a single footnote and sparse parenthetical clarifications, claiming in his introduction to the narrative that “I have carefully abstained from casting in a single reflection or animadversion of my own.” Comparison of Thompson’s own letters and lectures with the style of Grandy’s autobiography substantiates the editor’s disclaimer. 25 Thus, while Grandy did not manually draft the narrative, its content and structure can be attributed to him.

The text of the Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy reprinted here is that of the first edition, published in London in 1843. The original punctuation and British spellings have been preserved. As Thompson explains in his editorial note, the text includes some nonstandard spellings, especially of proper names, since he aimed to present the narrative exactly as Grandy had spoken it. Dialect variations between Grandy, a former American southerner, and his British amanuensis likely caused some discrepancies, as Thompson relied on phonetic spelling. For example, based on the narrator’s pronunciation, Thompson reported that Grandy sailed on a ship called the James Murray. Referencing the Boston Ship Register of 1833, historian David Cecelski has verified the vessel’s name as the James Maury. Likewise, Grandy’s former master “Mr. Mews” was most likely William T. Muse, a traceable Pasquotank County, North Carolina, slaveholder. 26 In another case, the amanuensis recorded Grandy’s term “mare” and afterward inserted the standard spelling “mayor” in parentheses. Yet, with both its unintentional and deliberate misspellings, Thompson’s transcription seems to intend authenticity rather than derision of Grandy’s language.

After its initial publication in London, Grandy’s narrative appeared in three American reprintings in 1844. These editions, published by Boston abolitionist Oliver Johnson, differ in a few respects from the British precedent. Most notably, the Boston editions target an American audience and, accordingly, exclude the special recognition and forwarding address of John Scoble, Grandy’s British liaison. As noted above, Scoble, secretary of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, served as Grandy’s sponsor, arranging speaking engagements and managing financial accounts during the North Carolinian’s travels abroad. Meanwhile, proceeds from the American printing of the narrative would most likely have been handled in Grandy’s home city, Boston. Thus the American editions omit the instructions directing possible donors to Scoble.

Instead, in concluding the Boston editions of the narrative, Grandy supplies an account ledger of his accumulated spending for buying himself and his relatives out of slavery. Dated January 19, 1844, this receipt legitimizes Grandy’s use of solicited revenue and his requests for additional funding to purchase his sibling, Mary. This receipt is reprinted as an appendix to the current edition.

The three American versions of the narrative were all printed consecutively in 1844. The

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.