Mary
Prince,
the daughter of slaves, was
born at Brackish Pond, Bermuda, in about 1788. Her father was a sawyer
and her mother a house-servant. Mary
and her parents were the property of Charles Myners.
When Myners died Mary and
her mother were sold to Captain Williams. Mary now became the personal
slave of his daughter, Betsey Williams. When she was twelve years
old Mary was hired out to another plantation five miles away. Soon
afterwards Williams sold her to another family
Mary Prince worked as a
domestic slave and in the fields and during this period she was constantly
flogged by her mistress. She later wrote: "To strip me naked
- to hang me up by the wrists and lay my flesh open with the cow-skin,
was an ordinary punishment for even a slight offence."
Her master
later sold her to another man and in 1806 Mary Prince was sent to
work on the salt pans of Turk Island. "I was immediately sent
to work in the salt water with the rest of the slaves. This work was
perfectly new to me. I was given a half barrel and a shovel, and had
to stand up to my knees in the water, from four o'clock in the morning
till nine, when we were given some Indian corn boiled in water, which
we were obliged to swallow as fast as we could for fear the rain should
come on and melt the salt."
In 1818 Mary Prince was
then sold to John Wood, a plantation owner who lived in Antigua, for
$300. She later wrote: My work there was to attend the chambers and
nurse the child, and to go down to the pond and wash clothes. But
I soon fell ill of the rheumatism, and grew so very lame that I was
forced to walk with a stick."
Mary Prince began attending
meetings held at the Moravian Church. She later wrote: "The Moravian
ladies (Mrs. Richter, Mrs. Olufsen, and Mrs. Sauter) taught me to
read in the class; and I got on very fast. In this class there were
all sorts of people, old and young, grey headed folks and children;
but most of them were free people. After we had done spelling, we
tried to read in the Bible. After the reading was over, the missionary
gave out a hymn for us to sing."
While in Antigua she met
the widower, Daniel Jones, a former black slave who had managed to
purchase his freedom. Jones now worked as a carpenter and cooper and
asked Mary to marry him. This she agreed to do and got married in
the Moravian Chapel in December 1826. John Wood was furious when he
found out and once again she had to endure a severe beating with a
horsewhip.
John Wood and his wife
took her as their servant to London. Soon
after arriving in England in 1828 she ran away and went to live at
the Moravian Mission House in Hatton Gardens. A few weeks later she
went to work for Thomas Pringle, a member of the Anti-Slavery
Society. In 1831
Pringle arranged for her to publish her book, The
History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave.
After the publication of
the book John Wood sued the publishers of The
History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave claiming that
Mary Prince work had "endeavoured to injure the character of
my family by the most vile and infamous falsehoods". Wood lost
his case.
Two prominent supporters
of slavery in Britain, James MacQueen and James Curtin, took up Wood's
case and in an article in Blackwood's
Magazine,
claimed that Prince's book contained a large number of lies. Prince
and her publisher sued MacQueen and Curtin for libel and won their
case.
(1)
Thomas Pringle, preface to The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian
Slave (1831)
The idea of writing Mary Prince's history was first suggested by herself.
She wished it to be done, she said, that good people in England might
hear from a slave what a slave had felt and suffered; and a letter
of her late master's, which will be found in the Supplement, induced
me to accede to her wish without farther delay. The more immediate
object of the publication will afterwards appear.
The narrative was taken
down from Mary's own lips by a lady who happened to be at the time
residing in my family as a visitor. It was written out fully, with
all the narrator's repetitions and prolixities, and afterwards pruned
into its present shape; retaining, as far as was practicable, Mary's
exact expressions and peculiar phraseology. No fact of importance
has been omitted, and not a single circumstance or sentiment has been
added. It is essentially her own, without any material alteration
farther than was requisite to exclude redundances and gross grammatical
errors, so as to render it clearly intelligible.
After it had been thus
written out, I went over the whole, carefully examining her on every
fact and circumstance detailed; and in all that relates to her residence
in Antigua I had the advantage of being assisted in this scrutiny
by Mr. Joseph Phillips, who was a resident in that colony during the
same period, and had known her there.
(2)
Mary
Prince, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave (1831)
Mrs. Williams was
a kind-hearted good woman, and she treated all her slaves well. She
had only one daughter, Miss Betsey, for whom I was purchased, and
who was about my own age. I was made quite a pet of by Miss Betsey,
and loved her very much. She used to lead me about by the hand, and
call me her little nigger. This was the happiest period of my life;
for I was too young to understand rightly my condition as a slave,
and too thoughtless and full of spirits to look forward to the days
of toil and sorrow.
My mother was a household
slave in the same family. I was under her own care, and my little
brothers and sisters were my play-fellows and companions. My mother
had several fine children after she came to Mrs. Williams, - three
girls and two boys. The tasks given out to us children were light,
and we used to play together with Miss Betsey, with as much freedom
almost as if she had been our sister.
My master, however, was
a very harsh, selfish man; and we always dreaded his return from sea.
His wife was herself much afraid of him; and, during his stay at home,
seldom dared to show her usual kindness to the slaves. He often left
her, in the most distressed circumstances, to reside in other female
society, at some place in the West Indies of which I have forgot the
name. My poor mistress bore his ill-treatment with great patience,
and all her slaves loved and pitied her. I was truly attached to her,
and, next to my own mother, loved her better than any creature in
the world. My obedience to her commands was cheerfully given: it sprung
solely from the affection I felt for her, and not from fear of the
power which the white people's law had given her over me.
(3)
Mary
Prince, The History of Mary
Prince, A West Indian Slave (1831)
I staid at Mrs. Pruden's
about three months after this; I was then sent back to Mr. Williams
to be sold. Oh, that was a sad sad time! I recollect the day well.
Mrs. Pruden came to me and said, "Mary, you will have to go home
directly; your master is going to be married, and he means to sell
you and two of your sisters to raise money for the wedding."
Hearing this I burst out a crying, though I was then far from being
sensible of the full weight of my misfortune, or of the misery that
waited for me. Besides, I did not like to leave Mrs. Pruden, and the
dear baby, who had grown very fond of me. For some time I could scarcely
believe that Mrs. Pruden was in earnest, till I received orders for
my immediate return.
Dear Miss Fanny! how she
cried at parting with me, whilst I kissed and hugged the baby, thinking
I should never see him again. I left Mrs. Pruden's, and walked home
with a heart full of sorrow. The idea of being sold away from my mother
and Miss Betsey was so frightful, that I dared not trust myself to
think about it. We had been bought of Mr. Myners, as I have mentioned,
by Miss Betsey's grandfather, and given to her, so that we were by
right her property, and I never thought we should be separated or
sold away from her.
When I reached the house,
I went in directly to Miss Betsey. I found her in great distress;
and she cried out as soon as she saw me, "Oh, Mary! my father
is going to sell you all to raise money to marry that wicked woman.
You are my slaves, and he has no right to sell you; but it is all
to please her." She then told me that my mother was living with
her father's sister at a house close by, and I went there to see her.
It was a sorrowful meeting; and we lamented with a great and sore
crying our unfortunate situation. "Here comes one of my poor
picaninnies!" she said, the moment I came in, "one of the
poor slave-brood who are to be sold tomorrow."
Oh dear! I cannot bear
to think of that day, - it is too much - It recalls the great grief
that filled my heart, and the woeful thoughts that passed to and fro
through my mind, whilst listening to the pitiful words of my poor
mother, weeping for the loss of her children. I wish I could find
words to tell you all I then felt and suffered. The great God above
alone knows the thoughts of the poor slave's heart, and the bitter
pains which follow such separations as these. All that we love taken
away from us - Oh, it is sad, sad! and sore to be borne! - I got no
sleep that night for thinking of the morrow; and dear Miss Betsey
was scarcely less distressed. She could not bear to part with her
old playmates, and she cried sore and would not be pacified.
The black morning at length
came; it came too soon for my poor mother and us. Whilst she was putting
on us the new osnaburgs in which we were to be sold, she said, in
a sorrowful voice, (I shall never forget it!) "See, I am shrouding
my poor children; what a task for a mother!" - She then called
Miss Betsey to take leave of us. "I am going to carry my little
chickens to market," (these were her very words.) "take
your last look of them: may be you will see them no more." "Oh,
my poor slaves! my own slaves!" said dear Miss Betsey, "you
belong to me: and it grieves my heart to part with you." - Miss
Betsey kissed us all, and, when she left us, my mother called the
rest of the slaves to bid us good bye. One of them, a woman named
Moll, came with her infant in her arms. "Ay!" said my mother,
seeing her turn away and look at her child with the tears in her eyes,
"your turn will come next." The slaves could say nothing
to comfort us; they could only weep and lament with us. When I left
my dear little brothers and the house in which I had been brought
up, I thought my heart would burst.
Our mother, weeping as
she went, called me away with the children Hannah and Dinah, and we
took the road that led to Hamble Town, which we reached about four
o'clock in the afternoon. We followed my mother to the market-place,
where she placed us in a row against a large house, with our backs
to the wall and our arms folded across our breasts. I, as the eldest,
stood first, Hannah next to me, then Dinah; and our mother stood beside,
crying over us. My heart throbbed with grief and terror so violently,
that I pressed my hands quite tightly across my breast, but I could
not keep it still, and it continued to leap as though it would burst
out of my body. But who cared for that? Did one of the many bystanders,
who were looking at us so carelessly, think of the pain that wrung
the hearts of the Negro woman and her young ones? No, no! They were
not all bad, I dare say, but slavery hardens white people's hearts
towards the blacks; and many of them were not slow to make their remarks
upon us aloud, without regard to our grief - though their light words
fell like cayenne on the fresh wounds of our hearts. Oh those white
people have small hearts who can only feel for themselves.
At length the vendue master,
who was to offer us for sale like sheep or cattle, arrived, and asked
my mother which was the eldest. She said nothing, but pointed to me.
He took me by the hand, and led me out into the middle of the street,
and, turning me slowly round, exposed me to the view of those who
attended the vendue. I was soon surrounded by strange men, who examined
and handled me in the same manner that a butcher would a calf or a
lamb he was about to purchase, and who talked about my shape and size
in like words - as if I could no more understand their meaning than
the dumb beasts. I was then put up to sale. The bidding commenced
at a few pounds, and gradually rose to fifty-seven, when I was knocked
down to the highest bidder; and the people who stood by said that
I had fetched a great sum for so young a slave.
I then saw my sisters
led forth, and sold to different owners: so that we had not the sad
satisfaction of being partners in bondage. When the sale was over,
my mother hugged and kissed us, and mourned over us, begging of us
to keep up a good heart, and do our duty to our new masters. It was
a sad parting; one went one way, one another, and our poor mammy went
home with nothing.
(4)
Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave
(1831)
The next morning my mistress set about instructing me in my tasks.
She taught me to do all sorts of household work; to wash and bake,
pick cotton and wool, and wash floors, and cook. And she taught me
(how can I ever forget it!) more things than these; she caused me
to know the exact difference between the smart of the rope, the cart-whip,
and the cow-skin, when applied to my naked body by her own cruel hand.
And there was scarcely any punishment more dreadful than the blows
received on my face and head from her hard heavy fist. She was a fearful
woman, and a savage mistress to her slaves.
There were two little
slave boys in the house, on whom she vented her bad temper in a special
manner. One of these children was a mulatto, called Cyrus, who had
been bought while an infant in his mother's arms; the other, Jack,
was an African from the coast of Guinea, whom a sailor had given or
sold to my master. Seldom a day passed without these boys receiving
the most severe treatment, and often for no fault at all. Both my
master and mistress seemed to think that they had a right to ill -
use them at their pleasure; and very often accompanied their commands
with blows, whether the children were behaving well or ill. I have
seen their flesh ragged and raw with licks. They were never secure
one moment from a blow, and their lives were passed in continual fear.
My mistress was not contented with using the whip, but often pinched
their cheeks and arms in the most cruel manner. My pity for these
poor boys was soon transferred to myself; for I was licked, and flogged,
and pinched by her pitiless fingers in the neck and arms, exactly
as they were. To strip me naked - to hang me up by the wrists and
lay my flesh open with the cow-skin, was an ordinary punishment for
even a slight offence. My mistress often robbed me too of the hours
that belong to sleep. She used to sit up very late, frequently even
until morning; and I had then to stand at a bench and wash during
the greater part of the night, or pick wool and cotton; and often
I have dropped down overcome by sleep and fatigue, till roused from
a state of stupor by the whip, and forced to start up to my tasks.
(5)
Mary
Prince, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave (1831)
One day a heavy
squall of wind and rain came on suddenly, and my mistress sent me
round the corner of the house to empty a large earthen jar. The jar
was already cracked with an old deep crack that divided it in the
middle, and in turning it upside down to empty it, it parted in my
hand. I could not help the accident, but I was dreadfully frightened,
looking forward to a severe punishment. I ran crying to my mistress,
"O mistress, the jar has come in two." "You have broken
it, have you?" she replied; "come directly here to me."
I came trembling: she stripped and flogged me long and severely with
the cow-skin; as long as she had strength to use the lash, for she
did not give over till she was quite tired. When my master came home
at night, she told him of my fault; and oh, frightful! how he fell
a swearing. After abusing me with every ill name he could think of,
(too, too bad to speak in England) and giving me several heavy blows
with his hand, he said, "I shall come home tomorrow morning at
twelve, on purpose to give you a round hundred." He kept his
word - Oh sad for me! I cannot easily forget it. He tied me up upon
a ladder, and gave me a hundred lashes with his own hand, and master
Benjy stood by to count them for him. When he had licked me for some
time he sat down to take breath; then after resting, he beat me again
and again, until he was quite wearied, and so hot (for the weather
was very sultry), that he sank back in his chair, almost like to faint.
(6)
Mary
Prince, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave (1831)
My new master was one of
the owners or holders of the salt ponds, and he received a certain
sum for every slave that worked upon his premises, whether they were
young or old. This sum was allowed him out of the profits arising
from the salt works. I was immediately sent to work in the salt water
with the rest of the slaves. This work was perfectly new to me. I
was given a half barrel and a shovel, and had to stand up to my knees
in the water, from four o'clock in the morning till nine, when we
were given some Indian corn boiled in water, which we were obliged
to swallow as fast as we could for fear the rain should come on and
melt the salt. We were then called again to our tasks, and worked
through the heat of the day; the sun flaming upon our heads like fire,
and raising salt blisters in those parts which were not completely
covered. Our feet and legs, from standing in the salt water for so
many hours, soon became full of dreadful boils, which eat down in
some cases to the very bone, afflicting the sufferers with great torment.
We came home at twelve; ate our corn soup, called blawly, as fast
as we could, and went back to our employment till dark at night. We
then shovelled up the salt in large heaps, and went down to the sea,
where we washed the pickle from our limbs, and cleaned the barrows
and shovels from the salt. When we returned to the house, our master
gave us each our allowance of raw Indian corn, which we pounded in
a mortar and boiled in water for our suppers.
We slept in a long shed,
divided into narrow slips, like the stalls used for cattle. Boards
fixed upon stakes driven into the ground, without mat or covering,
were our only beds. On Sundays, after we had washed the salt bags,
and done other work required of us, we went into the bush and cut
the long soft grass, of which we made trusses for our legs and feet
to rest upon, for they were so full of the salt boils that we could
get no rest lying upon the bare boards.
(7)
Mary
Prince, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave (1831)
My old master often got
drunk, and then he would get in a fury with his daughter, and beat
her till she was not fit to be seen. I remember on one occasion, I
had gone to fetch water, and when I was coming up the hill I heard
a great screaming; I ran as fast as I could to the house, put down
the water, and went into the chamber, where I found my master beating
Miss D dreadfully. I strove with all my strength to get her away from
him; for she was all black and blue with bruises. He had beat her
with his fist, and almost killed her. The people gave me credit for
getting her away. He turned round and began to lick me. Then I said,
"Sir, this is not Turk's Island." I can't repeat his answer,
the words were too wicked - too bad to say. He wanted to treat me
the same in Bermuda as he had done in Turk's Island.
He had an ugly fashion
of stripping himself quite naked, and ordering me then to wash him
in a tub of water. This was worse to me than all the licks. Sometimes
when he called me to wash him I would not come, my eyes were so full
of shame. He would then come to beat me. One time I had plates and
knives in my hand, and I dropped both plates and knives, and some
of the plates were broken. He struck me so severely for this, that
at last I defended myself, for I thought it was high time to do so.
I then told him I would not live longer with him, for he was a very
indecent man - very spiteful, and too indecent; with no shame for
his servants, no shame for his own flesh. So I went away to a neighbouring
house and sat down and cried till the next morning, when I went home
again, not knowing what else to do.
(8)
In
1818 Mary Prince was sold to John
Wood for $300. She wrote about her new master in her book, The
History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave (1831)
My work there was to attend
the chambers and nurse the child, and to go down to the pond and wash
clothes. But I soon fell ill of the rheumatism, and grew so very lame
that I was forced to walk with a stick. I got the Saint Anthony's
fire, also, in my left leg, and became quite a cripple. No one cared
much to come near me, and I was ill a long long time; for several
months I could not lift the limb. I had to lie in a little old outhouse,
that was swarming with bugs and other vermin, which tormented me greatly;
but I had no other place to lie in. I got the rheumatism by catching
cold at the pond side, from washing in the fresh water; in the salt
water I never got cold. The person who lived in next yard, (a Mrs.
Greene) could not bear to hear my cries and groans. She was kind,
and used to send an old slave woman to help me, who sometimes brought
me a little soup. When the doctor found I was so ill, he said I must
be put into a bath of hot water. The old slave got the bark of some
bush that was good for the pains, which she boiled in the hot water,
and every night she came and put me into the bath, and did what she
could for me: I don't know what I should have done, or what would
have become of me, had it not been for her. My mistress, it is true,
did send me a little food; but no one from our family came near me
but the cook, who used to shove my food in at the door, and say, "Molly,
Molly, there's your dinner."
(9)
Mary
Prince, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave (1831)
The Moravian ladies (Mrs.
Richter, Mrs. Olufsen, and Mrs. Sauter) taught me to read in the class;
and I got on very fast. In this class there were all sorts of people,
old and young, grey headed folks and children; but most of them were
free people. After we had done spelling, we tried to read in the Bible.
After the reading was over, the missionary gave out a hymn for us
to sing. I dearly loved to go to the church, it was so solemn. I never
knew rightly that I had much sin till I went there. When I found out
that I was a great sinner, I was very sorely grieved, and very much
frightened. I used to pray God to pardon my sins for Christ's sake,
and forgive me for every thing I had done amiss; and when I went home
to my work, I always thought about what I had heard from the missionaries,
and wished to be good that I might go to heaven.
(10)
Mary
Prince, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave (1831)
I went into the service
of Mr. and Mrs. Pringle, where I have been ever since, and am as comfortable
as I can be while separated from my dear husband, and away from my
own country and all old friends and connections. My dear mistress
teaches me daily to read the word of God, and takes great pains to
make me understand it. I enjoy the great privilege of being enabled
to attend church three times on the Sunday: and I have met with many
kind friends since I have been here, both clergymen and others. The
Rev. Mr. Young, who lives in the next house, has shown me much kindness,
and taken much pains to instruct me, particularly while my master
and mistress were absent in Scotland. Nor must I forget, among my
friends, the Rev. Mr. Mortimer, the good clergyman of the parish,
under whose ministry I have now sat for upwards of twelve months.
I trust in God I have profited by what I have heard from him. He never
keeps back the truth, and I think he has been the means of opening
my eyes and ears much better to understand the word of God. Mr. Mortimer
tells me that he cannot open the eyes of my heart, but that I must
pray to God to change my heart, and make me to know the truth, and
the truth will make me free.
(11)
John
Wood wrote about Mary Prince in a letter he wrote to Sir Patrick Ross
on 20th October 1830.
Her moral character is
very bad, as the police records will show; and she would be a very
troublesome character should she come here without any restraint.
She is not a native of this country, and I know of no relation she
has here. I induced her to take a husband, a short time before she
left this, by providing a comfortable house in my yard for them, and
prohibiting her going out after 10 to 12 o'clock (our bedtime) without
special leave. This she considered the greatest, and indeed the only,
grievance she ever complained of, and all my efforts could not prevent
it. In hopes of inducing her to be steady to her husband, who was
a free man, I gave him the house to occupy during our absence; but
it appears the attachment was too loose to bind her, and he has taken
another wife: so on that score I do her no injury.
In England she quitted
my family. This I had no right to object to; and I should have thought
no more of it, but not satisfied to leave quietly, she gave every
trouble and annoyance in her power, and endeavoured to injure the
character of my family by the most vile and infamous falsehoods, which
was embodied in a petition to the House of Commons, and would have
been presented, had not my friends from this island, particularly
the Hon. Mr. Byam and Dr. Coull, come forward, and disproved what
she had asserted.
Losing her value as a slave
in a pecuniary point of view I consider of no consequence; for it
was our intention, had she conducted herself properly and returned
with us, to have given her freedom. She has taken her freedom; and
all I wish is, that she would enjoy it without meddling with me.
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