AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MOMENT September 5, 1859: The novel, Our Nig (or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black) by Harriet E. Wilson was published. She is considered the 1st female African-American novelist, as well as the 1st African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent. It was published anonymously in Boston, Massachusetts, and was not widely known. Harriet E. Wilson is considered the 1st female African-American novelist, as well as the 1st African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent. Her novel Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black was published anonymously in 1859 in Boston, Massachusetts, and was not widely known. The novel was discovered in 1982 by the scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Born a free person of color, of mixed race in New Hampshire, Wilson was orphaned when young and bound as an indentured servant until the age of 18. She struggled to make a living after that, marrying twice; her only son died at age seven in the poor house, where she had placed him while trying to survive as a widow. She wrote one novel. Wilson later was associated with the Spiritualist church, was paid on the public speaking circuit for her lectures about her life, and worked as a housekeeper in a boarding house.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 18:00:21 +0000