What are the importance of English / African American StudiesThe History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave was the first women’s slave narrative, published in
England in 1831. Successful and controversial, the small pamphlet directly contributed to the
passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 two years later. Mary Prince’s story is not only raw and
vivid in its description of the cruelties she and others endured, but she also advances compelling
arguments about the devastating and dehumanizing effects of slavery, both on the enslaved and
slavers. Meanwhile, a teenaged Harriet Jacobs was trying to escape from the very horrors Prince
described. Thirty years later she published Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the most iconic
women’s slave narrative. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the most widely read slave
narrative and an American literary classic. The narrative’s publication in 1845 launched the career
of one of the 19th century’s most famous men. For Paper 2, you’ll be writing about the slave
narrative, its particular arguments and appeals, and its indispensible role in American abolition.
Write a 3-5 page essay in which you:
