Clotel; or the President's Daughter (1853)

On July 6, 1853, William Wells Brown published "Clotel", considered the first novel by an African American. From the article:

"Clotel; or the President's Daughter (1853)
Contributed by Christopher Mulvey

Clotel; or the President's Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States by William Wells Brown was published in 1853 in London. It is considered the first African American novel. Brown, the son of an enslaved woman and her owner's brother, escaped from slavery and was a lecturer on the abolition circuit in England when he published Clotel. He based the book on the rumor that Thomas Jefferson fathered several children with his enslaved housekeeper, Sally Hemings—a rumor that DNA evidence and the historical record have since proved true. Clotel follows Jefferson's fictional mistress, Currer, and her daughters, Clotel and Althesa, during and after their sale on the auction block in Richmond; it also included documentary material—newspaper articles, notices, bills, posters, and advertisements—that contextualized his novel for a British readership that knew little about slavery. Brown hardly knew Virginia, but for him it represented all that was evil about the slave-owning United States—as did Jefferson, arguably Virginia's most famous son. Brown hated Jefferson for writing the Declaration of Independence while also fathering slave children. Brown published three additional versions of Clotel in 1860–1861, 1864, and 1867. Each one was published with a different title, in a different format, and for a different readership. Ultimately, Brown removed Jefferson from the tale. Traditional literary critics considered Brown's overstuffed plots and extranarrative material a weakness, but modern readings see the four versions of Clotel as comprising an evolving whole. A digital scholarly edition that includes all versions of the book, published in 2006, at last made a full comparative reading possible.

Brown was born into slavery in Lexington, Kentucky, most likely in 1814. His mother, an enslaved woman called Elizabeth, was owned by a Dr. John Young; his father was Dr. Young's brother. From the age of twelve, Brown was hired out to work in many different trades. In 1832 he fled slavery with his mother, but they were recaptured. Young subsequently sold Brown's mother to a slave trader going South and Brown to a businessman. On January 1, 1834, Brown escaped again, this time to Ohio, where he was helped on his way by a Quaker called Wells Brown. The escapee took Wells Brown as his last names, becoming William Wells Brown. In Cleveland, he found work at an abolitionist printing office, married, and started a family.

In 1847 Brown and his story became well-known when he published the Narrative of William Wells Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Written by himself. Two years later he traveled to England to lecture on the abolition circuit, as Frederick Douglass had done. While he was there, the U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act (1850), making it impossible for Brown to return to the United States without either facing reenslavement or purchasing his freedom from the man who claimed to own him. Brown refused to do either. He was trapped in England, but he prospered there, publishing new versions of his narrative and writing and publishing Clotel; or the President's Daughter. In 1854, abolitionists bought Brown's freedom and he returned to America.

Brown's wife had died in the United States while he was abroad. He married again and made his home in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. He published a second version of Clotel in 1860, a third in 1864, and a fourth in 1867. He continued to lecture in the North and to investigate in the South. He published more books, reworking and recycling favorite material. On November 6, 1884, Brown died in Boston."