William L. Andrews and Mitch Kachun, eds. The Curse of Caste, or, The Slave Bride: A Rediscovered African American Novel by Julia C. Collins

William L. Andrews and Mitch Kachun, eds. The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride: A Rediscovered African American Novel by Julia C. Collins. New York: Oxford UP, 2006. 208 pp. $11.95.

In 2002, Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., edited and unveiled a newly discovered manuscript, The Bondwoman's Narrative: A Novel, written by Hannah Crafts. Apparently written sometime between 1855 and 1859, upon its 2002 release, it was reported to have been the "first" published manuscript written by an African American woman. For decades before Gates's find, scholars believed the first published book-length work by an African American woman was either Harriet E. Wilson's autobiographically tinged and self-published Our Nig; or, Sketches From the Life of a Free Black (1859), or Harriet A. Jacobs's narrative of enslavement, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). With the 2006 publication of Julia C. Collins's The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride (Oxford UP), first published between February 25, and September 23, 1865, as a serialized novel in the pages of the one of foremost Black journals of the day, the Christian Recorder weekly newspaper, we now know that hers is the first novel written by an African American woman. By way of buttressing that claim, we learn from the introduction to the volume by the book's editors, William Lo Andrews and Mitch Kachun, that there is ongoing scholarly debate about the race and identity of the author of The Bondwoman's Narrative, Hannah Crafts. In addition, they point out, the works by Wilson and Jacobs are largely autobiographical and, as a result, not the first pieces of work to spring whole hog from the imagination and creativity of a Black woman in the nineteenth century. It is, however, worth noting that due to Julia Collins's sudden illness and then unexpected death, the story ended before she had the opportunity to complete it herself. In a highly imaginative move, the editors propose two different endings at the conclusion of what Collins left us and explain the cultural and literary significance behind each of the fascinating and wholly plausible endings.

In terms of the story, the action centers on a daughter named Claire and her mother named Lina. Lina dies on the day that she gives birth to Claire, and the story ranges back and forth between the lives of the two women. We come to know that Lina was an enslaved Octoroon (one-eighth Black) who grew up in a northern boarding school with her half brother and sister without ever knowing that she was anything less than a full-fledged white member of the family. Upon her return by boat to the South, she begins to suspect that something may be amiss in regard to her heritage. As it turns out, she has been sold to a southern slave owner whose family name is Tracy. On that same boat is a young southern gentleman named Richard Tracy, who happens to be the son of her new owner. He falls deeply and helplessly in love with Lina and she with him. They resolve to marry.

To free Lina, Richard asks a family friend, George Manville, to purchase her so that the two lovers can leave the South together. Richard's unsuspecting father sells Lina, and soon after, Richard goes to him to declare his intentions to marry the newly freed woman. His father, a confirmed believer in white supremacy, denounces young Richard and banishes him from the house. Though saddened by the family rift, Richard holds true to his plans, and he and Lina move to Connecticut, marry, purchase a home, and hire an older Black woman named Juno to help the couple around the house. They are all blissfully happy for six months when Lina conceives their child. At that point Richard, missing his mother and devastated by his exile from his sister and brother, returns South and attempts to smooth things over with his father. The reconciliation does not go well, and Richard's father shoots him and leaves him for dead. Manville finds Richard and moves him to a safe place, where Richard takes months to regain consciousness. Lina, of course, has no way of knowing Richard's absence is due to his injuries and assumes she has been abandoned. She dies of a broken heart moments after giving birth to Claire, and Richard is told that both mother and child died at the same time. Manville asks Juno to care for the child, and he pays for their upkeep after selling the house. This move makes it impossible for Richard to find his daughter when he comes looking.

The rest of the story centers on the baby Claire, whom we next meet as an 18-year-old woman who has no knowledge of her heritage and finds herself in the employ of the Tracy family as a governess. Everyone in the family is struck by Claire's resemblance to Richard and soon begins to suspect the truth of who she is. Her father is notified of the family suspicions, and he immediately sets out to meet her. At the same time, a suitor is informed of her heritage on the day he plans to propose to her. The story ends before father and daughter can meet and before Claire's love interest has a chance to show readers if he will still propose marriage once he knows that she has at least some Black blood in her veins.