Customer Reviews

Minnie's Sacrifice (Dodo Press)

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Frances Harper was the most popular black woman poet of the nineteenth century. Before the Civil War, she was a much admired abolitionist lecturer on the anti-slavery circuit. Afterwards she championed education for blacks, women's rights and universal suffrage.

Some years ago I read and enjoyed Harper's novel Iola Leroy (1892), which has become a classic of African American literature. Minnie's Sacrifice (1869), recently rediscovered by a Harper scholar, is an earlier, less polished work. Some chapters have been lost because the book was only published in serial form. Nonetheless I found Minnie's Sacrifice well worth reading.

The story follows the lives of a boy and girl born to black slave women and their white masters. The children are sent North to pass for white and only discover their mixed blood by force of circumstances.

The descriptions of the Underground Railway in Minnie's Sacrifice recall Harper's own experience helping slaves escape to Canada.

Frances Harper was born in 1825 of free black parents, but she was not content with just her own freedom. She dedicated her life to defeating slavery and righting other injustices. Her passionate commitment to helping others is reflecting in Minnie's character and the whole tenor of Minnie's Sacrifice. It may not be great literature, but it brings us the voice of a great humanitarian.

I'd recommend Minnie's Sacrifice to any reader interested (as I am) in the literature created by slaves and free blacks in the nineteenth century.

It's hard to enjoy a book when much of the text is missing. While this one was input by volunteers it should have been checked for full content before putting in on Amazon