Two years ago, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. discovered an unpublished manuscript,
The Bondwoman's Narrative, By Hannah Crafts, A Fugitive Recently Escaped From North Carolina
, which turned out to be the first novel by a female African-American slave ever found, and possibly the first novel written by a black women anywhere.
The Bondwoman's Narrative
was published in 2002.
In Search of Hannah Crafts
now brings together twenty-two authorities on African-American history, including Nina Baym, Jean Fagan Yellin, William Andrews, Lawrence Buell, Karen Sanchez-Eppler, and Shelley Fisher-Fishkin to examine such issues as authenticity and the history and criticism of this unique novel.
will take its place in the African-American canon.
is the book that scholars and students of African-American Studies, of women writers, and of slavery will need to understand this unprecedented historical and literary event.