Loading AI tools
American slave narrative author From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Lindsay Smith (ca. 1816 – ca. 1883) was an American slave narrative author, minister, and shoemaker.[1][2] His memoir Autobiography of James L. Smith (1881) was one of only six slave narratives published in Connecticut.[3]
James Lindsay Smith | |
---|---|
Born | 1816 Northern Neck, Virginia, US |
Died | 1883 66–67) Norwich, Connecticut, US | (aged
Occupation | Author, minister, shoemaker |
Language | English |
Subject | Autobiography, slave narrative |
Notable works | Autobiography of James L. Smith (1881) |
Born a slave on a plantation in Northumberland County, Virginia, Smith escaped in 1838, rowing across the Chesapeake Bay with two other fugitives in a canoe. After stops in New Castle, Philadelphia, and New York City and with the aid of abolitionists such as David Ruggles, Smith gained safety in Springfield, Massachusetts, via the Underground Railroad. In Massachusetts, he became a founding member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and attended Wilbraham Academy.[2][4]
In 1842, Smith married Emmeline Minerva Platt and settled in Norwich, Connecticut, where he became a Methodist Episcopal minister and established a successful shoemaking business. His daughters, Louie and Emma, attended Norwich Free Academy and became teachers, while his son, James H. Smith, became a shoemaker like his father.[2][1]
In 1881, Smith published his memoirs, entitled Autobiography of James L. Smith, Including, Also, Reminiscences of Slave Life, Recollections of the War, Education of Freedmen, Causes of the Exodus, Etc. (Norwich: Press of The Bulletin Company, 1881). In this autobiography, he recounted his youth as a slave, his escape to freedom, and his later life in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In addition, he incorporated historical accounts of the American Civil War, the destruction the war inflicted on the South, the heroism of Black Union soldiers, and postwar Black emigration to the North.[1][2][4]
Smith's house on School Street is a stop on Norwich's Freedom Trail[5] and is a contributing property to Norwich's Jail Hill Historic District.[6]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.