![]() Since she had not asked permission to marry, she was severely beaten as punishment. There she met and married Daniel James, a former slave who had bought his freedom. In 1815 she was taken to Antigua by her then-owner, John Wood. For the next 15 years Mary was bought and sold between brutal owners who abused her physically and sexually. Her mother was a household slave and when the family who owned them lost money, her mother had no choice but sell Mary at the market-place. Mary Prince was born into a slave family in Bermuda, around 1788. Anti-slavery campaigns were influential in bringing about this change and the publication, in 1831, of the autobiography of Mary Prince, a female slave from the British West Indies, had a profound impact on these campaigns. By the 1830s, however, the slave trade had been abolished and legislation to free all slaves in British dependencies followed soon after in 1833. Mary Prince's novel - first edition cover It is estimated that, by 1800, there were 450,000 slaves in the British West Indies and Britain’s economy was supported by the vast wealth of prosperous slave traders. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |