Black Narratives

Venture Smith

• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781513284774
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture (1798) is an autobiography by Venture Smith. Written while Smith was living in freedom on his own farm in Connecticut, A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture is recognized by scholars as a pioneering work of African American nonfiction and one of the earliest known slave narratives in American history. Born the son of Saugnm Furro, a prince of Dukandarra, Smith was captured as a boy and sold into slavery on the Gold Coast of Africa. Brought to Barbados by way of the Middle Passage, Smith was eventually sold to Robinson Mumford, a landowner from Rhode Island. Upon arrival in the British colony, Smith was put to work in the Mumford household, gaining the trust of his enslaver while enduring the abuses of Mumford's young son. At 22, he married Meg, a fellow enslaved woman, and was soon swept up in an escape attempt with an Irish indentured servant. Betrayed at Montauk Point by the Irishman, Smith was forced to capture him and return to Rhode Island, where he was sold to Thomas Stanton in Connecticut. Separated from his wife and daughter, subjected to worse abuses than before, Smith sought to gain his freedom by any means necessary. This edition of Venture Smith's A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• I. Containing an account of his life, from his birth to the time of his leaving his native country
• II. Containing an account of his life, from the time of his leaving Africa, to that of his becoming free
• III. Containing an account of his life, from the time of his purchasing his freedom to the present day
• Certificate
• A Note About the Author
• A Note from the Publisher