Henry Louis Gates donates slave novel to Yale University - Noteworthy News - manuscript by female African American, Hannah Crafts - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, June 19, 2003

NEW HAVEN, CONN.

Yale University became home to the first known novel written by a female slave, thanks to a donation from Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. during a ceremony held last month on the New Haven, Conn., campus.

The 301-page handwritten manuscript, The Bondwoman's Narrative, by Hannah Crafts, is the story of the adventures of a female slave, laced with social commentary about the worlds of slaves and masters.

Gates, the chairman of Harvard University's Department of Afro-American Studies, found the manuscript in an auction of Black memorabilia. He researched and edited the book and got it published last year. The Bondwoman's Narrative reached several best-seller lists.

The book was likely written between 1853 and 1861. Gates said he is sure the author was Black and was a slave, but he is not sure whether Crafts was her real name.

Gates is donating the book to Yale's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which houses some 500,000 volumes and several million manuscripts.