The Bondwoman’s Narrative

The Bondwoman's Narrative is a fictionalized slave narrative published in 2002, based on the real experiences of its author, Hannah Bond, who used the pseudonym Hannah Crafts. Discovered in manuscript form in the early 21st century, it is considered one of the earliest contributions to African American women's fiction.1

A "bondwoman" is defined as a woman held in forced servitude. The slave narrative genre, which The Bondwoman's Narrative belongs to, was a crucial form of protest literature in antebellum America. These narratives provided firsthand accounts of the brutalities of slavery, aiming to persuade a largely indifferent white Northern readership to support the abolitionist cause.23