Speaking Lives, Authoring Texts

Cathleen Collins

Description

Speaking Lives, Authoring Texts is a critical collection of three women's oral slave narratives, Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: A Tale of Southern Slave Life (1861), The Story of Mattie J. Jackson (1866), and Sylvia Dubois, A Biography of The Slave Who Whipped Her Mistress and Gained Her Freedom (1883), that have received little scholarly attention owing both to the oral nature of the texts and the circumstances of their publication and republication. Taken together, these narratives display African American women's discursive practices that subvert oppression, assert agency, and create representations of the past that counter dominant narratives of both slavery and American culture. This volume ensures that twenty-first-century readers "hear" these voices to not only gain historical knowledge, but also to understand the dynamics of literacy and self-representation, and to locate oral narratives in the spectrum and tradition of African American literary production.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION
Speaking Lives, Authoring Texts: African American Women's Voices Raised for Freedom

CHRONOLOGY OF LOUISA PICQUET
Louisa Picquet, The Octoroon: A Tale of Southern Slave Life (1861)
Hiram Mattison

CHRONOLOGY OF MATTIE J. JACKSON
The Story of Mattie J. Jackson(1866)
L. S. Thompson

CHRONOLOGY OF SYLVIA DUBOIS
Sylvia Dubois (Now 116 Years Old), A Biography of the Slave Who Whipped Her Mistress and Gained Her Freedom(Translation of C. W. Larison's original phonetic text)

Silvia Dubois (Now 116 Yers Old), A Biografy of The Slav Who Whipt Her Mistress and Gand Her Fredom(1883) (Facsimile)
C. W. Larison

Sujets

• Ethnic studies

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438429663
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 211 Mo

Extrait

Speaking Lives, Authoring Texts hree African American Women’s Oral Slave Narratives edited by DoVeanna S. Fulton MinorandReginald H. Pitts

Speaking Lives, Authoring Texts

Speaking Lives, Authoring Texts

Three African American Women’s Oral Slave Narratives

EDITED BY DoVeanna S. Fulton Minor AND Reginald H. Pitts

S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2010 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Dana Foote Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Speaking lives, authoring texts : three African American women’s oral slave narratives / edited by DoVeanna S. Fulton Minor and Reginald H. Pitts. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-4384-2965-6 (hbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4384-2964-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Picquet, Louisa, b. 1828? 2. Jackson, Mattie J. 3. Dubois, Silvia, 1788 or 9–1889. 4. Women slaves—United States—Biography. 5. Slavery—United States— History—19th century. I. Fulton Minor, DoVeanna S. II. Pitts, Reginald H. III. Picquet, Louisa, b. 1828? Louisa Picquet, the octoroon, or, inside views of southern domestic life. IV. Jackson, Mattie J. Story of Mattie J. Jackson. V. Larison, Cornelius Wilson, 1837–1910. Silvia Dubois. E444.S73 2010 306.3'62092—dc22 2009012

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For Black women who have spoken up throughout the ages.

L IST OF I LLUSTRATIONS

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

C O N T E N T S

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I NTRODUCTION Speaking Lives, Authoring Texts: African American Women’s Voices Raised for Freedom 1 C HRONOLOGY OF L OUISA P ICQUET 39 Louisa Picquet, The Octoroon: A Tale of Southern Slave Life(1861) Hiram Mattison 43 C HRONOLOGY OF M ATTIE J. J ACKSON 95 The Story of Mattie J. Jackson(1866) L. S. Thompson 99 C HRONOLOGY OF S YLVIA D UBOIS 131 Sylvia Dubois (Now 116 Years Old), A Biography of the Slave Who Whipped Her Mistress and Gained Her Freedom (Translation of C. W. Larison’s original phonetic text) 133 Silvia Dubois (Now 116 Yers Old), A Biografy of The Slav Who Whipt Her Mistress and Gand Her Fredom(1883) (Facsimile) C. W. Larison 195

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I L L U S T R A T I O N S

Frontispiece of the original publication ofLouisa Picquet, The Octoroon(1860)

Sylvia Dubois and daughter, Elizabeth Alexander, circa 1883

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