{"product_id":"clotel-isbn-9780142437728","title":"Clotel","description":"First published in December 1853, \u003cb\u003eClotel\u003c\/b\u003e was written amid then unconfirmed rumors that Thomas Jefferson had fathered children with one of his slaves. The story begins with the auction of his mistress, here called Currer, and their two daughters, Clotel and Althesa. The Virginian who buys Clotel falls in love with her, gets her pregnant, seems to promise marriage—then sells her. Escaping from the slave dealer, Clotel returns to Virginia disguised as a white man in order to rescue her daughter, Mary, a slave in her father’s house. A fast-paced and harrowing tale of slavery and freedom, of the hypocrisies of a nation founded on democratic principles, \u003cb\u003eClotel\u003c\/b\u003e is more than a sensationalist novel. It is a founding text of the African American novelistic tradition, a brilliantly composed and richly detailed exploration of human relations in a new world in which race is a cultural construct.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   • First time in Penguin Classics\u003cbr\u003e   • Includes appendices that show the different endings Brown created for the various later versions of \u003cb\u003eClotel\u003c\/b\u003e, along with the author's narrative of his \"Life and Escape,\" Introduction, suggested readings, and comprehensive explanatory notes\"A remarkable beginning for African-American fiction.\"\u003cbr\u003e--Henry Louis Gates, Jr.William Wells Brown (1814–1884) was born a slave, escaped to the North and then to England, and became one of the most prominent abolitionists of his time. During his prolific literary career, Brown was a pioneer in several different genres, including travel writing, fiction, and drama.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eM. Giulia Fabi is the author of \u003cb\u003ePassing\u003c\/b\u003e and the \u003cb\u003eRise of the African American Novel\u003c\/b\u003e. She teaches American literature at the University of Ferrara, Italy.\u003c\/p\u003eThe Negro Sale.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Why stands she near the auction stand,\u003cbr\u003eThat girl so young and fair?\u003cbr\u003eWhat brings her to this dismal place,\u003cbr\u003eWhy stands she weeping there?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the growing population of slaves in the Southern States of America,\u003cbr\u003ethere is a fearful increase of half whites, most of whose fathers are\u003cbr\u003eslaveowners, and their mothers slaves. Society does not frown upon the man\u003cbr\u003ewho sits with his mulatto child upon his knee, whilst its mother stands a\u003cbr\u003eslave behind his chair. The late Henry Clay, some years since, predicted\u003cbr\u003ethat the abolition of Negro slavery would be brought about by the\u003cbr\u003eamalgamation of the races. John Randolph, a distinguished slaveholder of\u003cbr\u003eVirginia, and a prominent statesman, said in a speech in the legislature of\u003cbr\u003ehis native state, that \"the blood of the first American statesmen coursed\u003cbr\u003ethrough the veins of the slave of the South.\" In all the cities and towns\u003cbr\u003eof the slave states, the real Negro, or clear black, does not amount to\u003cbr\u003emore than one in every four of the slave population. This fact is, of\u003cbr\u003eitself, the best evidence of the degraded and immoral condition of the\u003cbr\u003erelation of master and slave in the United States of America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn all the slave states, the law says:?\"Slaves shall be deemed, sold\u003cbr\u003e[held], taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the\u003cbr\u003ehands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators\u003cbr\u003eand assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever. A\u003cbr\u003eslave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs. The master\u003cbr\u003emay sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labour. He can\u003cbr\u003edo nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to\u003cbr\u003ehis master. The slave is entirely subject to the will of his master, who\u003cbr\u003emay correct and chastise him, though not with unusual rigour, or so as to\u003cbr\u003emaim and mutilate him, or expose him to the danger of loss of life, or to\u003cbr\u003ecause his death. The slave, to remain a slave, must be sensible that there\u003cbr\u003eis no appeal from his master.\" Where the slave is placed by law entirely\u003cbr\u003eunder the control of the man who claims him, body and soul, as property,\u003cbr\u003ewhat else could be expected than the most depraved social condition? The\u003cbr\u003emarriage relation, the oldest and most sacred institution given to man by\u003cbr\u003ehis Creator, is unknown and unrecognised in the slave laws of the United\u003cbr\u003eStates. Would that we could say, that the moral and religious teaching in\u003cbr\u003ethe slave states were better than the laws; but, alas! we cannot. A few\u003cbr\u003eyears since, some slaveholders became a little uneasy in their minds about\u003cbr\u003ethe rightfulness of permitting slaves to take to themselves husbands and\u003cbr\u003ewives, while they still had others living, and applied to their religious\u003cbr\u003eteachers for advice; and the following will show how this grave and\u003cbr\u003eimportant subject was treated:?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Is a servant, whose husband or wife has been sold by his or her master\u003cbr\u003einto a distant country, to be permitted to marry again?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe query was referred to a committee, who made the following report;\u003cbr\u003ewhich, after discussion, was adopted:?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"That, in view of the circumstances in which servants in this country are\u003cbr\u003eplaced, the committee are unanimous in the opinion, that it is better to\u003cbr\u003epermit servants thus circumstanced to take another husband or wife.\"","brand":"Penguin Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303777685733,"sku":"NP9780142437728","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780142437728.jpg?v=1767723852","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/clotel-isbn-9780142437728","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}