The Bondwoman's Narrative

The Bondwoman’s Narrative is an autobiographical novel by Hannah Crafts, unpublished at the time of composition but rediscovered in 2002 by literary scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. The story follows Hannah’s journey as an enslaved person in Virginia and North Carolina before her self-emancipation and move to New Jersey. The book is likely the first novel written by an African American enslaved woman in the United States of America and the only written by a fugitive from slavery.

Gates prefaces the novel with an introduction describing how he recovered, authenticated, and published Hannah Crafts’s manuscript. Gates purchased the handwritten manuscript at an auction. Several factors, including the novel’s sentimental genre, spelling errors, descriptions of Black characters, and scientific dating indicate that the text is an authentic piece written by a self-educated enslaved person between 1850 and 1860.

Content Warning: This text discusses racism, violence, enslavement, rape, torture, suicide, and abuse. This guide capitalizes Black unless in quotation and uses the term “enslaved person” unless in quotation.

Plot Summary

As the novel opens, Hannah is enslaved and works in the house. When the estate overseer catches the elderly Aunt Hetty teaching Hannah to read, he sends Hetty and her husband, Uncle Siah, away. Unbeknownst to Hannah, the couple goes to jail. The estate Hannah lives on is under a curse, and when Hannah finds a room with the portrait of Sir Clifford, she has an ominous feeling. Legend has it that Sir Clifford, a former owner of the estate, once tied an old, enslaved woman and her dog to a linden tree on the grounds, starving the pair to death. The enslaved woman cursed Sir Clifford with her dying breath. The linden tree still stands.

A year after Aunt Hetty goes to jail, Hannah’s enslaver marries, and a bridal party visits the estate. An old man named Mr. Trappe also arrives and acts strangely, particularly around Hannah’s new female enslaver. Long after the wedding party guests have left, Mr. Trappe remains. Hannah, as the lady’s main maid, notices Trappe’s malign influence on the lady. The former maid, Lizzy, tells Hannah that Trappe has been hanging around the lady for a long time and harbors a dreadful secret. Months later, Hannah is reading in secret and overhears Trappe blackmailing the lady and demanding more money. The lady later confesses to Hannah that she is a light-skinned enslaved woman, switched in the crib with the dead baby of her white female enslaver. Trappe knows this and has been extorting her for years. The lady wants to escape and begs Hannah to help.

Hannah agrees, and the pair runs all night, hoping to reach a boat by morning. They become lost, but they find shelter at a farm. Trappe appears, however, and they liberate themselves in the woods. There, they find an uninhabited cabin where they remain for months, living off berries. The cabin was the site of a bloody murder and seems to deteriorate the lady’s mental health. One day, three hunters arrive at the cabin and discover the self-liberated women. They take the women to a small village jail, revealing along the way that the estate owner has died by suicide in the room with Sir Clifford’s portrait, and the estate has a new owner.

The women stay in jail with only Mrs. Wright, a delusional white woman who is serving time for helping someone liberate themselves from slavery. The lady’s mental state deteriorates further. Trappe sends an enslaver named Hayes to take the women to a large, empty house. There, Hannah and the lady are locked in a suite of rooms, confined but in relative comfort. They are there a month before Trappe summons them. He reveals that he is selling Hannah and the lady the next day, and the lady screams and ruptures a blood vessel. She dies in Hannah’s arms.

An enslaver called Saddler arrives and buys Hannah. He seems kinder than Trappe and takes Hannah away in his wagon. Before they arrive at their destination, something spooks the carriage horse and it bolts, crashing the wagon. Hannah regains consciousness on the estate of Mrs. Henry, a kind woman who treats her enslaved people well. Hannah’s limbs are all splinted, and she learns that Saddler died in the accident.

Hannah recovers enough to explore the Henry household. It is nicer than any estates she’s encountered before. The Henrys treat Hannah as something between a guest and a servant. Saddler’s next of kin has contacted Mrs. Henry, however, and intends to collect his property. Mrs. Henry cannot buy an enslaved person due to a promise she made to her dying father, but she suggests that a friend named Mrs. Wheeler might be able to help.

Mrs. Wheeler arrives at the Henry estate and agrees to buy Hannah from Saddler’s relative, though Hannah compares Mrs. Wheeler’s personality to that of a spoiled child. When Hannah and the Wheelers arrive at the plantation in Wilmington, North Carolina, Hannah sees the enslaved people in the field living in slum-like conditions and is disgusted. After some time, Mrs. Wheeler banishes Hannah to work in the fields and live in the slums, promising her in marriage to an enslaved field laborer named Bill.

Hannah liberates herself the next night, disguised in men’s clothing. Passersby believe that she is a man and occasionally help her. One night, Hannah comes across people liberating themselves from slavery: a brother and sister. The sister is feverish, and Hannah spends a night with them in an abandoned cabin. During the night, the sister dies. The next morning, Hannah and the brother continue their journey. While they are stealing a boat, the enslaver shoots the brother, killing him. Hannah, already aboard the boat, drifts downstream and into rapids. She falls into the water and wakes up injured on a riverbank. There, she reunites with Aunt Hetty.

Hannah spends several weeks with Aunt Hetty before boarding a ship destined for New Jersey. Aboard the ship, she hears how one of Mr. Trappe’s victims has killed him. Hannah reaches New Jersey and is free. She marries, finds her mother, and reunites with Lotty, who was also formerly enslaved by Henry. Hannah teaches in a school for African American children and lives a happy life.