Peter Randolph (1825e–1897) was born enslaved in Prince George County, Virginia. Randolph was freed upon his master’s death along with the entire plantation work force. In 1847, sixty-six newly freed men, women, and children made the journey to begin life anew in Boston.Katherine Clay Bassard is professor of English and interim associate dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the author of Spiritual Interrogations: Culture, Gender, and Community in Early African American Women's Writing and Transforming Scriptures: African American Women Writers and the Bible, along with numerous articles on gender, race, and religion in literature.

“Readers will benefit not only from having Randolph’s texts available to them in this new form, but also from the critical interventions and extensive knowledge that Bassard’s introduction offers to various literary and historical fields.” - P. Gabrielle Foreman, author of Praise Songs for Dave the Potter: Art and Poetry for David Drake (2023)

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsPrefaceIntroduction “Negotiating Freedom: Writing the Emancipated Text”Sketches of Slave Life, First EditionSketches of Slave Life, Second EditionFrom Slave Cabin to the PulpitAppendixChronologySelected BibliographyNotes

Peter Randolph (1825e–1897) was born enslaved in Prince George County, Virginia. Randolph was freed upon his master’s death along with the entire plantation work force. In 1847, sixty-six newly freed men, women, and children made the journey to begin life anew in Boston.Katherine Clay Bassard is professor of English and interim associate dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the author of Spiritual Interrogations: Culture, Gender, and Community in Early African American Women's Writing and Transforming Scriptures: African American Women Writers and the Bible, along with numerous articles on gender, race, and religion in literature.

“Readers will benefit not only from having Randolph’s texts available to them in this new form, but also from the critical interventions and extensive knowledge that Bassard’s introduction offers to various literary and historical fields.” - P. Gabrielle Foreman, author of Praise Songs for Dave the Potter: Art and Poetry for David Drake (2023)

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsPrefaceIntroduction “Negotiating Freedom: Writing the Emancipated Text”Sketches of Slave Life, First EditionSketches of Slave Life, Second EditionFrom Slave Cabin to the PulpitAppendixChronologySelected BibliographyNotes

Peter Randolph (1825e–1897) was born enslaved in Prince George County, Virginia. Randolph was freed upon his master’s death along with the entire plantation work force. In 1847, sixty-six newly freed men, women, and children made the journey to begin life anew in Boston.Katherine Clay Bassard is professor of English and interim associate dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the author of Spiritual Interrogations: Culture, Gender, and Community in Early African American Women's Writing and Transforming Scriptures: African American Women Writers and the Bible, along with numerous articles on gender, race, and religion in literature.

“Readers will benefit not only from having Randolph’s texts available to them in this new form, but also from the critical interventions and extensive knowledge that Bassard’s introduction offers to various literary and historical fields.” - P. Gabrielle Foreman, author of Praise Songs for Dave the Potter: Art and Poetry for David Drake (2023)

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsPrefaceIntroduction “Negotiating Freedom: Writing the Emancipated Text”Sketches of Slave Life, First EditionSketches of Slave Life, Second EditionFrom Slave Cabin to the PulpitAppendixChronologySelected BibliographyNotes