Excerpt from The Life of William J. Brown, of Providence, R. I: With Personal Recollections of Incidents in Rhode Island In presenting this work to the public, the object of the author may be looked upon in a two-fold sense, viz., that he is to tally blind, afflicted with paralysis, and without means to meet his obligations and support himself; and as a necessary resort to accomplish his object, he herein presents to the public a review of his past life, believing that it will commend itself to the favorable notice of his many friends, and to the public generally. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In contrast to bourgeois churchgoers, who were wedded to decorum and rationality, the plebeians welcomed emotional outbursts and evinced an abiding belief in the supernatural. Schantz charts the ways in which these contrasting religious subcultures collided in the political turmoil of the Dorr Rebellion of 1842."--BOOK JACKET.

Publication is an act of power. It brings a piece of writing to the public and identifies its author as a person with an intellect and a voice that matters. Because nineteenth-century Black Americans knew that publication could empower them, and because they faced numerous challenges getting their writing into print or the literary market, many published their own books and pamphlets in order to garner social, political, or economic rewards. In doing so, these authors nurtured a tradition of creativity and critique that has remained largely hidden from view. Bryan Sinche surveys the hidden history of African American self-publication and offers new ways to understand the significance of publication as a creative, reformist, and remunerative project. Full of surprising turns, Sinche's study is not simply a look at genre or a movement; it is a fundamental reassessment of how print culture allowed Black ideas and stories to be disseminated to a wider reading public and enabled authors to retain financial and editorial control over their own narratives.

An anthology of five of the best autobiographical narratives detailing black life in New England in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The volume is accompanied by Cottrol's introduction, which discusses their significance and the window that they open on the lives of black New Englanders as they moved from eighteenth century slavery to freedom and the struggle for equality in the nineteenth century.