Heartbreaking British Slave Narratives

Ari can write a short introduction here and add two slave narratives with pictures. Banner Picture (Runaways)

Mary Prince

Born as a slave in Bermuda in 1788, Mary Prince went on the become a free woman and an abolitionist and an author. She was sold way from her family as a child, and she often suffered brutal and unfair treatment. She worked in homes and in the salt ponds of the Turk Island, where harsh labor and whippings left her scarred and weak. Throughout her difficult life, she showed courage and resilience. She spoke out against abuse and joined the Moravian Church in Antigua. In 1826, she married a free man, although her owners disapproved. When they brought her to England with them in 1828, she joined the abolitionists and embraced freedom that was possible due to England’s new laws. Unfortunately, she was unable to return to her home and husband without becoming enslaved again, so she stayed in England and told her story to the world. She became a voice for freedom and human dignity. Text (Prince); Picture (“Mary Prince: A Life of Resilience and Rebellion”)

Ignatius Sancho

Ignatius Sancho was born around 1729, likely on a slave ship or in the Spanish West Indies, to parents from Guinea. Orphaned at a young age, he was taken to England and enslaved by three sisters in Greenwich. A chance encounter with the Duke of Montagu transformed his life. Impressed by Sancho’s intelligence, the Duke encouraged his education and later employed him as a butler. With the Montagu family’s support, Sancho eventually gained independence, opening a grocery shop in Westminster in 1774—a business that ironically sold goods produced by enslaved labor.

Sancho became widely respected as a writer, composer, and outspoken critic of slavery. In one of his most striking reflections, he wrote, “Consider slavery—what it is—how bitter a draught, and how many millions are made to drink it!” (1776). His words reveal both his empathy and his defiance toward the institution that had once defined his own life.

His published letters, released posthumously in 1782, display wit, intellect, and humanity, offering rare insight into the life of a Black Briton in the 18th century. As one of the first known Black men to vote in a British election, Sancho’s life remains a powerful symbol of resilience, education, and moral courage.

Joanna

Joanna was a mixed-race enslaved woman in Suriname during the late 1700s. The daughter of a wealthy white man, she occupied a complicated position within the slave system—seen as different from other enslaved people because of her parentage, yet still bound by the same harsh realities of slavery. While in bondage, she was taken as a “wife” by a European soldier stationed in the colony, navigating a relationship that blurred the lines between affection, dependence, and power.

When her enslaver died, Joanna faced being sold at auction along with the rest of his property. She was spared that fate only when a friend of her partner purchased her on his behalf. Her story sheds light on the unstable nature of slave life, the intersections of class and race in colonial society, and the resilience of women who lived within—and sometimes pushed against—the constraints of slavery.