| Object: | “The Life and Adventures of a Haunted Convict, or the inmate of a gloomy prison,” by Austin Reed |
|---|---|
| Date: | 1858 |
| Medium: | Ink and graphite on paper |
| Where to find: | Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library |
What to know: In 2009, the Beinecke acquired this memoir by Austin Reed, a free black man born in the 1820s who spent most of his early life in forced labor, either in prison or as an indentured servant — a gripping first-person account of a life outside slavery but with unsettling similarities to it. Lost for more than one hundred and fifty years, the handwritten document is the first known prison memoir written by a Black American.
“The Life and Adventures of a Haunted Convict, or the inmate of a gloomy prison,” by Austin Reed
From the expert: “Austin Reed revealed the harsh realities of nineteenth-century prison life — the loneliness, the labor without pay, the whips and chains,” says Caleb Smith, professor of English and of American Studies in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, who authenticated the manuscript. “But all the while, he was writing a complex narrative, not a diary. Reed was a gifted, subversive writer, with a creative imagination and a highly developed sense of irony. Rather than finding his voice, he invented one. Instead of documenting his life story, he crafted it.”
