Autobiography of James L. Smith . .

Norwich: Press of the Bulletin Company, 1881. First Edition. Good. 7 7/8” x 5¼”. Pebbled cloth over boards, title gilt. Pp. ix, 150 including author frontis and 2 (of 2) plate illustrations. Good: hinges cracked; two quires detached (comprising prelims and title page, and one plate and pp. 99-110); corners bumped; spine tips frayed; spotting to boards and endpapers. Some scattered spotting and thumb-soiling to edges; inked former owner's note to front pastedown and annotations to preface and one page.

This is a rousing book of memoirs by an African American minister, James L. Smith. James Lindsay Smith was born enslaved on a plantation in (truncated) Northern Neck, Virginia in 1816. He escaped in 1838 – an epic journey with two other slaves by foot, horse and rowing a canoe across the Chesapeake Bay. Smith was aided by abolitionists in Philadelphia and New York, and settled in Springfield, Massachusetts via the Underground Railroad. He worked at a shoe shop, earned a license to preach from the nearby Wilbraham Academy and became a founding member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. He also toured with an abolitionist lecturer, speaking out against slavery's evils. In 1842 Smith married and the couple relocated to Norwich, Connecticut. There he operated his own shoe-making business, helped found a Methodist church and spent the next 20 years preaching. Smith died around 1883; his former home is a stop on Norwich's Freedom Trail.

The full title of this work sheds light on its contents, which included the author's “Reminiscences of Slave Life, Recollections of the War, Education of Freedmen, Causes of the Exodus, Etc.” In the preface, Smith expressed his hope “not to weary your patience” with his narrative, “which is fraught with so many exciting scenes.” He provided his reasons for writing, with messages of uplift and the importance of education:

“Our ignorance, which is often spoken of, and for which we are not to blame, is caused by this ill, slavery . . . those who are instructing my people are few and far between; and we have been deprived of education by the hand of slavery and servitude . . . This volume speaks of our earnest desire for more liberty and rights as a free people, and that our children may enjoy that of which we have been deprived.”

In the memoir, Smith recounted his youth as a slave, his harrowing escape to freedom and journey with the Underground Railroad, and later life in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He spoke of violence and prejudice that came his way as a lecturer – “Slavery at this time had a great many friends” – as well as his friendship and enlightening conversations with a neighbor from Africa:

“We look forward to the day when Africa shall be free, and my people shall have that liberty that rightfully belongs to them. Many missionaries have gone out there to enlighten and teach the natives the 'Good Way' but after awhile we find most of them more interested in the gold and silver than in the civilization of the people.”

The work also incorporated riveting accounts of the Civil War, noting the “valor and courage” of African American soldiers: “after two hundred years or more of oppression and injustice, and having not only their rights as citizens, but their manhood ignored . . . a thousand other wrongs calculated to kill the patriotism in any other than a black man.” There were dramatic depictions of key battles and the destruction inflicted on the south, along with Smith's observations of African Americans emigrating to the north, “as they are still leaving their land of slavery, as they expect the freedom which they have fought for and hoped for.”

Vivid recollections of a former slave and preacher, in its original edition. Reasonably well represented in institutions, and with good cause. (Inventory #: 8001)