tailieunhanh - THIRTY YEARS A SLAVE

The institution of human slavery, as it existed in this country, has long been dead; and, happily for all the sacred interests which it assailed, there is for it no resurrection. It may, therefore, be asked to what purpose is the story which follows, of the experiences of one person under that dead and accursed institution? To such question, if it be asked, it may be answered that the narrator presents his story in compliance with the suggestion of friends, and in the hope that it may add something of accurate information regarding the character and influence of an. | THIRTY YEARS A SLAVE From Bondage to Freedom. THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY AS SEEN ON THE PLANTATION AND IN THE HOME OF THE PLANTER. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LOUIS HUGHES. PREFACE. The institution of human slavery as it existed in this country has long been dead and happily for all the sacred interests which it assailed there is for it no resurrection. It may therefore be asked to what purpose is the story which follows of the experiences of one person under that dead and accursed institution To such question if it be asked it may be answered that the narrator presents his story in compliance with the suggestion of friends and in the hope that it may add something of accurate information regarding the character and influence of an institution which for two hundred years dominated the country exercising a potent but baneful influence in the formation of its social civil and industrial structures and which finally plunged it into the most stupendous civil war which the world has ever known. As the enlightenment of each generation depends upon the thoughtful study of the history of those that have gone before everything which tends to fullness and accuracy in that history is of value even though it be not presented with the adjuncts of literary adornment or thrilling scenic effects. CHAPTER I. LIFE ON A COTTON PLANTATION. BIRTH SOLD IN A RICHMOND SLAVE PEN. I was born in Virginia in 1832 near Charlottesville in the beautiful valley of the Rivanna river. My father was a white man and my mother a negress the slave of one John Martin. I was a mere child probably not more than six years of age as I remember when my mother two brothers and myself were sold to Dr. Louis a practicing physician in the village of Scottsville. We remained with him about five years when he died and in the settlement of his estate I was sold to one Washington Fitzpatrick a merchant of the village. He kept me a short time when he took me to Richmond by way of canal-boat expecting to sell me but as the .