The Bondwoman's Narrative is a literary work recounting the life of a young slave and her escape from slavery to freedom. It was probably written in the late 1850s by an author identified as "Hannah Crafts," identified on the title page as "a Fugitive Slave Recently Escaped from North Carolina." The work remained in manuscript until 2002 when, having been recovered and investigated by Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., it was first published. Its origins are obscure. Nevertheless it is a work that has important implications for understanding antebellum American literary and cultural history.

The young slave whose experiences are chronicled in The Bondwoman's Narrative is herself named Hannah, portrayed for much of the text as a relatively privileged slave, almost white in complexion and for the most part mildly treated. The author uses Hannah's privileged status, however, in ways intended to highlight the cruelty of...