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FYI Research: |
Lunsford Lane was a tobacco dealer and an employee of the North Carolina governor's office. He was also a slave. Lane's autobiography and three others tell a little-known story--of slaves who pushed their boundaries. These stories are collected in an upcoming book edited by William L. Andrews, E. Maynard Adams professor of English, and four former Carolina graduate students. North Carolina Slave Narratives: The Lives of Moses Roper, Lunsford Lane, Moses Grandy, and Thomas H. Jones is due out from UNC Press in November. The men featured in the book all worked hard to define themselves outside slavery. Moses Roper, from Caswell County, made numerous escape attempts despite the brutal beatings he received as punishment. During his final escape he traveled to New York and England as a ship's steward. Moses Grandy was a waterman and ship's pilot from Camden County, and Thomas H. Jones of Wilmington worked as a blacksmith and an itinerant slave preacher. It wasn't uncommon for owners to allow slaves with skills to hire themselves out or to sell goods, Andrews said. Most masters would then keep a good part of the slave's earnings. "It certainly wasn't a fair labor relationship," he said. "It was highly unjust. But it was better than working in the fields from dawn to dusk and depending on the master once or twice a year to give you a little something extra if he felt like it." Lane, for instance, produced a more flavorful tobacco by modifying a curing method that his father taught him. After working for his owner all day, Lane manufactured tobacco and pipes at night. He sold his goods in Raleigh and managed to save the $1,000 he needed to buy his own freedom. After buying his own life, Lane arranged to buy his wife and six children for $2,500. He gave their owner bank notes promising to pay $500 each year. But before he could repay the debt, Lane was slapped with an order to leave North Carolina under a law that made it illegal for "any free negro or mulatto to migrate into this State." A petition in support of Lane from C.C. Battle, secretary to the governor, failed. Lane had to retreat to Boston. There he raised the remainder of the money, then managed to return to Raleigh long enough to buy his family and escape. "I think the reason Lane was run out of Raleigh was that he was making too much money," Andrews said. "These stories dramatize the injustice of slavery in a different way. These are people with great talents and abilities and hard work ethics. Yet they are forced to constantly adjust to all these restrictions, and in response they look for ways to open up those restrictions. "Sometimes they're successful and sometimes they're not," Andrews said. "In the end, they're all headed for freedom." Editing the book with Andrews were David A. Davis, Tampathia Evans, Ian Frederick Finseth and Andrea N. Williams. Evans and Williams began work on the project while still English master's students at Carolina. The other two editors earned doctoral degrees in English at the University. Andrews said, "We have that kind of North Carolina rootedness in common with the people we're writing about." The narratives in the book are also available online as part of the electronic collection "North American Slave Narratives, Beginnings to 1920." You can visit the collection online. |