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A review by lukescalone
Clotel: Or, the President's Daughter by William Wells Brown
4.0
This is the first novel published by an African-American slave. Of course, the narrative of Frederick Douglass was autobiographical and, if I'm not mistaken, was published before this. Nevertheless, William Wells Brown's book is quite an achievement.
The novel itself is about a mixed-race enslaved woman named Clotel, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and a fictional enslaved woman named Currer. The book itself comes out of swirling rumors that Jefferson had children with one of his slaves, which we today know is true thanks to DNA evidence. The ultimate case made by Brown is that slavery is so insidious that not even the children and grandchildren of a man so illustrious as the president of the United States is immune to it: The story ends with
A lot of the stories within this text are actually true, but were fictionalized in order to show us the lengths that enslaved people will go to free themselves. While less rooted in Christian morality than [b:Uncle Tom's Cabin|46787|Uncle Tom's Cabin|Harriet Beecher Stowe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414349231l/46787._SY75_.jpg|2478635], it still has a strong presence here, rightfully so. Some of the argumentation isn't quite so subtle as other works but, as an explicitly abolitionist text written by such an accomplished individual, that doesn't matter so much.
The novel itself is about a mixed-race enslaved woman named Clotel, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and a fictional enslaved woman named Currer. The book itself comes out of swirling rumors that Jefferson had children with one of his slaves, which we today know is true thanks to DNA evidence. The ultimate case made by Brown is that slavery is so insidious that not even the children and grandchildren of a man so illustrious as the president of the United States is immune to it: The story ends with
Spoiler
the drowning of Jefferson's daughter.A lot of the stories within this text are actually true, but were fictionalized in order to show us the lengths that enslaved people will go to free themselves. While less rooted in Christian morality than [b:Uncle Tom's Cabin|46787|Uncle Tom's Cabin|Harriet Beecher Stowe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414349231l/46787._SY75_.jpg|2478635], it still has a strong presence here, rightfully so. Some of the argumentation isn't quite so subtle as other works but, as an explicitly abolitionist text written by such an accomplished individual, that doesn't matter so much.