Online Class Notes (Mike)

Mary Prince was born in Bermuda in 1788. As her mother and father were slaves she was a slave, too. She was sold a total of four times in her life. The first time with the rest of her family, but when she was 12, she was separated from them and went to work as a maid. She had been working at this job for
a few months when she ran away to be with her mother, but she was soon captured and sent back. The third time she was sold to work in the salt ponds. The work was long and hard and the sun caused blisters on her body. She was also treated cruelly by her owners, who often struck her for the smallest of things. When she was 40, new owners took her to England. Slavery was illegal in the UK, so she was able to go and work with the abolitionists. In 1831, the Anti-Slavery Society published a book about her life story called The History of Mary Prince. Lots of people read the book and it helped many change their minds about slavery.