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Mary Prince (c. 1788-after 1833) was born in Devonshire Parish, Bermuda, to an enslaved family of African descent. While she was later living in London, her autobiography, ''The History of Mary Prince'' (1831), was the first account of the life of a black woman to be published in the United Kingdom. Belonging to the genre of slave narratives, this first-hand description of the brutalities of enslavement, released at a time when slavery was still legal in Bermuda and British Caribbean colonies, had a galvanising effect on the anti-slavery movement. It went through three printings in the first year. Prince had her account transcribed while living and working in England at the home of Thomas Pringle and created the Anti-Slavery Society. She had gone to London with her master and his family in 1828 from Antigua. ==Early life and education== Mary Prince was born into slavery in Brackish Pond, now known as Devonshire Marsh, Devonshire Parish, Bermuda. Her father (whose only given name was Prince) was a sawyer owned by David Trimmingham, and her mother a house-servant held by Charles Myners. She had three younger brothers and two sisters, Hannah and Dinah.〔(''The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave'' ), F. Westley and A. H. Davis (eds). 1831. Online HTML edition, New York Public Library〕 When Myners died in 1788, Mary Prince, her mother and siblings were sold as household servants to Captain Darrell. He gave Mary and her mother to his daughter, with the slave girl becoming the companion servant of his young granddaughter, Betsey Williams.〔 At the age of 12, Mary was sold for £38 sterling〔''The History of Mary Prince'', p. 5.〕 (''2009: £'') to Captain John Ingham, of Spanish Point. Her two sisters were sold the same day, each to different masters. Her new master and his wife were cruel, and often lost their temper with the slaves. Mary and other slaves were often severely flogged for minor offences. Ingham sold Mary in 1806 to a master on Grand Turk, who owned salt ponds. The Bermudians had used these seasonally for a century for the extraction of salt from the ocean. The production of salt for export was a pillar of the Bermudian economy, but could not easily be produced. As a young child Mary had to work for seventeen straight hours while standing in water up to her knees. These conditions were very poor for an adult, let alone a child. Workers in the salt pond were fed occasionally as they received some Indian corn, but could not enjoy it for the owners of the pond feared if the workers were gone for too long rain would come and soil the salt. Generally men were the salt rakers, forced to work in the salt ponds, where they were exposed to the sun and heat, as well as the salt in the pans, which ate away at their uncovered legs. Women did packaging of salt. Mary Prince was returned to Bermuda in 1810, where her master had moved. She was assigned to his daughter, and then for a time hired out to work at Cedar Hill. In 1815, Mary was sold a 4th time to John Adams Wood of Antigua for $300.〔 She worked for his household as a domestic slave, attending the bed chambers, nursing a young child, and washing clothes. She began to suffer from rheumatism and was unable to work. When her master was travelling, Prince began to earn her own money, by taking in washing, selling coffee, yams and other provisions to ships, and similar ways.〔''The History of Mary Prince,'' pp. 15–16.〕 In Antigua she joined the Moravian Church, where she also attended classes and learned to read. She had been baptised in the English church in 1817 and accepted for communion, but she had feared asking her master for permission to go.〔''The History of Mary Prince,'' p. 17.〕 In December 1826, Prince married Daniel James, a former slave who had bought his freedom by saving money from his work. He worked as a carpenter and cooper. According to her, the master and mistress disapproved of the marriage, claiming they did not want a free black man living at their place. They used her action as one more excuse to beat her. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mary Prince」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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