646 Discovering a Long Lost Slave Narrative (with Jonathan D.S. Schroeder)

The History of Literature

When he undertook his research on Harriet Jacobs and her brother John Swanson Jacobs, scholar Jonathan D.S. Schroeder wasn't expecting to find John's long lost autobiography. But there it was, buried in the archives of an Australian newspaper. Unknown for one hundred and sixty-nine years, the narrative bursts with fire and fury, filled with the energy (and intellectual freedom) of an ex-slave and ex-American writing from outside the United States. In this episode, Jacke talks to Jonathan about what it was like to make this incredible discovery - and what the narrative teaches us about the world of nineteenth-century literature and life.

Book link:

The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery; A Rediscovered Narrative, with a Full Biography (by John Swanson Jacobs (Author) and Jonathan D.S. Schroeder (Editor))

Additional listening suggestions:

• 300 Frederick Douglass
• 311 Frederick Douglass Learns to Read
• 485 Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America (with Dr Tara Bynum)

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.

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