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OverviewLost on the other side of the world since 1855, the story of John Swanson Jacobs finally returns to America. For one hundred and sixty-nine years, a first-person slave narrative written by John Swanson Jacobs—brother of Harriet Jacobs—was buried in a pile of newspapers in Australia. Jacobs's long-lost narrative, The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots, is a startling and revolutionary discovery. A document like this—written by an ex-slave and ex-American, in language charged with all that can be said about America outside America, untampered with and unedited by white abolitionists—has never been seen before. A radical abolitionist, sailor, and miner, John Jacobs has a life story that is as global as it is American. Born into slavery, by 1855, he had fled both the South and the United States altogether, becoming a stateless citizen of the world and its waters. That year, he published his life story in an Australian newspaper, far from American power and its threats. Unsentimental and unapologetic, Jacobs radically denounced slavery and the state, calling out politicians and slaveowners by their names, critiquing America's founding documents, and indicting all citizens who maintained the racist and intolerable status quo. Reproduced in full, this narrative—which entwines with that of his sister and with the life of their friend Frederick Douglass—here opens new horizons for how we understand slavery, race, and migration, and all that they entailed in nineteenth-century America and the world at large. The second half of the book contains a full-length, nine-generation biography of Jacobs and his family by literary historian Jonathan Schroeder. This new guide to the world of John Jacobs will transform our sense of it—and of the forces and prejudices built into the American project. To truly reckon with the lives of John Jacobs is to see with new clarity that in 1776, America embarked on two experiments at once: one in democracy, the other in tyranny. Full Product DetailsAuthor: John Swanson Jacobs , Jonathan D S SchroederPublisher: The University of Chicago Press Imprint: University of Chicago Press Edition: First Edition, Critical Edition Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.426kg ISBN: 9780226684307ISBN 10: 022668430 Pages: 288 Publication Date: 21 May 2024 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In stock  We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately. Table of ContentsIntroduction: A Global Slave Narrative xi A Note on the Text xxxi The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery John Swanson Jacobs One The Death of Mrs. Hanablue, and the Sale of Her Slaves at Public Auction Two The Happy Family, or Practical Christianity Three Brutality and Murder among Slaves Four The Different Ways of Punishing Slaves Five My Sister Has Run Away, My Aunt, Two Children, and Myself Sent to Gaol Six My Fifth and Last Master Seven Dr. Sawyer’s Death—His Brother’s Election to Congress—and Marriage—and My Escape from Him Eight My Voyage to the South Seas, and the Object of the Voyage—My Sister’s Escape, and Our Meeting Nine The Laws of the United States respecting Slavery Ten The Agreement between the North and South at the Adoption of the Constitution Eleven The Declaration of American Independence, with Interlineations of United States and State Laws No Longer Yours: The Lives of John Swanson Jacobs Jonathan D. S. Schroeder Prologue One Bondservants of Liberty Two Toward a New Grammar of Justice Three The World My Country Epilogue: Afterlives John Jacobs at First Sight: Notes on a Frontispiece List of Emendations Appendix 1: Writings by John Swanson Jacobs Appendix 2: Writings on John Swanson Jacobs Acknowledgments Abbreviations Notes IndexReviews"""The rediscovery of a long-forgotten slave narrative would be notable enough. But this one, scholars who have seen it say, is unique for its global perspective and its uncensored fury, from a man living far outside the trans-Atlantic network of white abolitionists who often limited what the formerly enslaved could write about their experiences."" -- Jennifer Schuessler * New York Times * ""In Jacob’s memoir, which is accompanied by a biography by Jonathan D. S. Schroeder, who unearthed the original version from an 1855 newspaper, Jacobs decides to go for broke. His writing is wry, unforgiving, and full of fury. It’s hard to take your eyes off the page."" * Electric Lit *" """The rediscovery of a long-forgotten slave narrative would be notable enough. But this one, scholars who have seen it say, is unique for its global perspective and its uncensored fury, from a man living far outside the trans-Atlantic network of white abolitionists who often limited what the formerly enslaved could write about their experiences."" -- Jennifer Schuessler * New York Times *" Author InformationJohn Swanson Jacobs was an abolitionist, miner, sailor, and citizen of the world. Jonathan D. S. Schroeder is a literary historian and lecturer at the Rhode Island School of Design. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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