Description:The records of the Quaker Reading Society identify that its members purchased a number of books that are often referred to as ‘slave narratives’. These were a vital source of information for local antislavery activists in the nineteenth century. Written by black ex-slaves, these kinds of autobiographical stories played an important role in worldwide campaigns for social justice. They were written by individuals who had undergone a deep struggle against discrimination, poverty and physical abuse at the hands of slaveholders and the transatlantic slave trade.
For an ex-slave to gain the level of literacy needed to write his own autobiography was in itself a potent weapon against the racism that accompanied slavery. Crudely put, black slaves were not believed by many to have the intellectual capacity for such a high level of literacy. This absurd idea was proved wrong: famous examples of ‘slave narratives’ were written by Olaudah Equiano (1789) and Frederick Douglass (1845). Many other less known examples also exist. For an example, follow the link to the story of 'James Watkins' in the section on 'Black Abolitionists'.
Many Quakers would support black ex-slaves to get their narratives into print. For instance, Joseph Sturge would help in the publication of "The Narrative of the Life of James Williams". Sturge had aided Williams liberation on his visit to the West Indies in 1837.