Recollections of a Former Slave

Originally published in 1881, Mr Smith created a detailed narrative of his long, eventful life, a testament to his very survival under conditions of extreme hardship. Unlike the eloquent, stirring rhetoric of Frederick Douglass, James Smith’s prose is simple and plain spoken. As such his words have the unmistakable sound of authenticity and what he has to say in his unadorned fashion is all the more poignant.