The History of Mary Prince

 The History of Mary Prince is a writing about a slave who was born in 1788 in Brackish Pond Bermuda. Her mother was a slave and her father was a shipbuilder. Mary first was given as a gift to Darrel Williams who he gave to his granddaughter. Mary was the childhood friend of the granddaughter until she was twelve years old. Prince was then given to a neighboring household as a nurse. It is interesting to see how often the owners of Mary moved her around. By the age of twelve, she has already been to three different homes. He said that the happiest time of her life was in early childhood. This was a time when she was too young to understand how she was a slave. Prince was sold a few more times and eventually joined the Moravian Church in Antigua. At the church, she would meet her future husband who was a free carpenter whose name was Daniel James. She married Daniel in December of 1826 and followed him to England in 1828. When she arrived in England, she was technically a freed slave. So, she worked for the Wood family for a while in their household. Later on, Prince consulted with local anti-slavery society. The Wood family would not allow Prince to buy her official freedom, but they would allow her to go back to Antigua without being re-enslaved. I would still be very nervous to go back to the place where she was treated so poorly. Where she was enslaved, beaten, and mistreated. Her past is in Antigua along with her family, so she doesn’t have a choice.    

Comments

  1. Kayley NegastSeptember 2, 2020 at 12:42 PM

    The words you used, "Mary first was given as a gift", is such a strong choice of words that reflect the passage so well because of how mistreated she was and how much she was being passed around to different masters. Very well written!

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