Minnie's Sacrifice

(Hardback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Minnies Sacrifice (1869) is a novel by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Originally serialized in the Christian Recorder, Minnies Sacrifice is a rediscovered work of fiction from one of nineteenth century Americas most prominent black writers and activists. The novel, which addresses such themes as miscegenation, passing, and the institutionalized rape of enslaved women, is a vastly underappreciated work that repurposes the story of Moses to tell a tale with a powerful political message.

On a plantation in the American South, a slave named Miriam mourns the untimely death of her only daughter. Agnes, who succumbed while giving birth to a baby boy in their cabin at the edge of Mr. Le Croixs property, left her son in her mothers care. Visiting Miriams cabin later that day, Camilla, the masters daughter, discovers a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy. Bringing this to the attention of her father, Camilla proposes that the boy be sent away from the plantation to be brought up as white. Unable to accept that the boy should be considered a slave, Camilla begs her father to take the child north, all the while failing to connect her own father to the boys birth. After brief contemplation, he nervously consents to her plan, but for all her cunning and bravery, Camilla is entirely unprepared for what her merciful endeavor will reveal. Minnies Sacrifice, by an author who inspired Zora Neale Hurston and Ida B. Wells, is a groundbreaking work of African American fiction and a definitive masterpiece from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a pioneer in her craft.

With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Frances Ellen Watkins Harpers Minnies Sacrifice is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Author Bio

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was an African American abolitionist, suffragist, poet, and novelist. Born free in Baltimore, Maryland, Harper became one of the first women of color to publish in the United States when her debut poetry collection Forest Leaves appeared in 1845. In 1850, she began to teach sewing at Union Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. The following year, alongside chairman of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society William Still, she began working as an abolitionist in earnest, helping slaves escape to Canada along the Underground Railroad. In 1854, having established herself as a prominent public speaker and political activist, Harper published Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, a resounding critical and commercial success. Over the course of her life, Harper founded and participated in several progressive organizations, including the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the National Association of Colored Women. At the age of sixty-seven, Harper published Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted, becoming one of the first African American women to publish a novel.