Prison Memoir of a Black Man in the 1850s

choi

Julie Bosman, Prison Memoir of a Black Man in the 1850s; The earliest known manuscript of its kind, intended for an audience. New York Times, Dec 12, 2013.
www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/books ... n-in-the-1850s.html

Quote:

"Years ago, a rare-books dealer browsing at an estate sale in Rochester came across an unusual manuscript, dated 1858. The family selling it said little about where it had been for the last 150 years. * * * Scholars now believe that the mystery manuscript is the first recovered memoir written in prison by an African-American

"The 304-page memoir, titled 'The Life and Adventures of a Haunted Convict, or the Inmate of a Gloomy Prison,' describes the experiences of the author, Austin Reed, from the 1830s to the 1850s in a prison in upstate New York. * * * Its subtitle is 'With the Mysteries and Miseries of the New York House of Reffuge [sic; should be 'refuge'] and Auburn Prison Unmasked.' * * * It is written under the name Rob Reed, although it is unclear why he used that name, according to Yale.  

Note:
(a) Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beinecke_Rare_Book_and_Manuscript_Library
(was a 1963 gift of the Beinecke family)
(b) "Caleb Smith, a professor of English at Yale "

Caleb
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caleb

(c) "Reed is believed to have been born a free man near Rochester. As a young man, according to Yale’s research, he was sent to the New York House of Refuge, a juvenile reform school in Manhattan, where he learned to read and write. By the 1830s, a string of thefts resulted in his incarceration in a state prison in Auburn, now known as the Auburn Correctional Facility, which was built in 1816."
(i) New York House of Refuge
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_House_of_Refuge
(was the first youth detention center in US)

was established and run by the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, a private organization. See

The Greatest Reform School in the World; A guide to the records of the New York House of Refuge. New York State Archives, 1989
www.archives.nysed.gov/a/research/res_topics_ed_reform.pdf
("The New York House of Refugee was the first juvenile reformatory [1825-1935]  in the nation. It was the product of a philanthropic association, originally called the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, organized in 1816. During its early years, the Society was dominated by Quakers and influential leaders, such as Cadwallader Colden and Stephen Allen. * * * *Although the New York House of Refuge was privately managed, the State of New York was involved from the beginning in organizing, funding, establishing inmate commitment procedures, and developing treatment programs")
(ii) Auburn, New York
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auburn,_New_York
(a city in and county seat of Cayuga County, New York; On August 6, 1890, the first execution by the electric chair was carried out at Auburn Prison. Also, in 1901 Leon Czolgosz, assassin of President William McKinley, was executed there [by electrocution])
(A) City of Auburn, New York, undated
www.auburnny.gov/Public_Documents/index
("In 1805 the name changed to Auburn, taken from an Oliver Goldsmith poem, which describes 'Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain'")
(B) Oliver Goldsmith
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Goldsmith
(1730?-1774; born in Ireland, died in London; Auburn, Alabama, and Auburn University were named for the first line in Goldsmith's poem: "Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain")
(C) Carol Rumens, Poem of the week: The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith. Guardian, May 31, 2010 (blog)
www.theguardian.com/books/booksb ... th-deserted-village
("Goldsmith's 'Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain' is fictional, or at least a composite. The poet is blending recollections of the Irish village of his boyhood, Lissoy, and the fruits of his more recent travels through the villages of England")
(D) Cayuga County, New York
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayuga_County,_New_York
(was named for one of the tribes of Indians in the Iroquois Confederation)
(E) electric chair
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair
(This execution method was created by employees of Thomas Edison during the War of Currents [to demonstrate danger of alternating current], and has been used only in the United States and, for a period of several decades, in the Philippines (its first use there in 1924 under American occupation, last in 1976))

(d) The manuscript, written with the dramatic flair of a natural storyteller but in unpolished English, with grammatical and spelling errors, traces his life from childhood to his years at Auburn. * * * In the early pages, Reed describes a childhood incident when, encouraged by his sister, he disguised himself as a girl and attempted to kill a man to avenge an earlier whipping. 'I cocked the pistol and with an uplifted hand of revenge I let fire and missd my shot,” he wrote. “It was a dark night. I could hardly see my hands before my face. The old man hollowd murder, murder, but before any aid could get to him I drew the knife a cross his shoulders wich left a deep wound for months afterward.'  * * * 'Stripping off my shirt the tyrantical curse bounded my hands fast in front of me and orderd me to stand around,' Reed wrote  [of his whipping in Auburn prison]. 'Turning my back towards him he threw Sixty seven lashes on me according to the orders of Esq Cook. I was then to stand over the dreain while one of the inmates wash my back in a pail of salt brine.'”
(i) Correct spelling for "hollowed murder, murder" is "hollered."
(ii) Correct spelling for "stand over the dreain" is "drain."

(e) “He’s not writing for intimates, he’s not writing for himself. He’s writing it for the public.”

intimate (n): "a very close friend or confidant :  an intimate friend"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intimate