MARY PRINCE

The History of Mary Prince

PRINCE’S LIFE

Born in Bermuda, around 1788

Born into slavery because her parents were both slaves with two

different masters

Was first sold along with her mother and siblings as house slaves

to Captain Darrell

At 12, Mary was sold by herself to Captain John Ingham, a cruel

master.

PRINCE’S LIFE

In 1806, Prince was sold to a master on another island, in what is

now the Turks and Caicos islands.

There, Prince worked as a salt packager in the salt mines.

Prince returned to Bermuda in 1810 when her master moved

there.

In 1815, Prince was sold again to the Woods family, and she

worked as a house slave for them.

PRINCE’S LIFE

While working for the Woods family in Antigua, another

Caribbean island, Prince began suffering from arthritis and was

unable to work.

When her master traveled, she began making money through odd

jobs like laundry and selling yams.

She joined a Protestant church, where she was able to learn how to

read.

PRINCE’S LIFE

In 1826, she married Daniel James, a former slave who had

managed to buy his own freedom.

Prince was flogged and beaten for her marriage because the

Woods family did not want a freed black man living near them.

In 1828, Prince traveled to London with the Woods family.

There, she left the Woods and began working for Thomas Pringle, an

abolitionist writer and member of the British Anti-Slavery Society.

PRINCE’S LIFE

Though Prince had left the Woods family, they had not freed her and the

refused to do so.

As a result, Prince was exiled in London and could not return to Antigua.

She remained in England until at least 1833, though her whereabouts after that

were unknown.

Prince may have lived to see the Slavery Abolition Act passed in England in

August 1834, which ensured that slavery was abolished in the West Indies by 1840.

THE HISTORY OF MARY

PRINCE

In 1829, encouraged by Pringle, Prince arranged to have her life story

transcribed by Susanna Strickland.

Pringle edited The History of Mary Prince, and the book was published in

1831.

The book received a lot of attention because it was the first account

of slavery from a black woman.

At this time, anti-slavery sentiments were also becoming more popular

in England.

THE BOOK’S INFLUENCE

When the book was published, slavery was illegal in England but

not in the West Indies, where Prince had lived.

Many of the debates over slavery were about politics and

economics.

Prince’s book gave a different dimension to the debate over

slavery, by capturing the experiences of a woman’s life as a slave.