PDF North Carolina Slave Narratives: The Lives of Moses Roper; Lunsford Lane; Moses Grandy; and Thomas H. Jones (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture) by From Brand: The University of North Carolina Press in History

Description

Here is the first fully annotated edition of a landmark in early African American literature--Eliza Potter's 1859 autobiography; A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life. Potter was a freeborn black woman who; as a hairdresser; was in a unique position to hear about; receive confidences from; and observe wealthy white women--and she recorded it all in a revelatory book that delighted Cincinnati's gossip columnists at the time. But more important is Potter's portrait of herself as a wage-earning woman; proud of her work; who earned high pay and accumulated quite a bit of money as one of the nation's earliest "beauticians" at a time when most black women worked at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Because her work offered insights into the private lives of elite white women; Potter carved out a literary space that featured a black working woman at the center; rather than at the margins; of the era's transformations in gender; race; and class structure. Xiomara Santamarina provides an insightful introduction to this edition that includes newly discovered information about Potter; discusses the author's strong satirical voice and proud working-class status; and places the narrative in the context of nineteenth-century literature and history.