PREFACE

The object in publishing this book is to gain sympathy from the earnest friends of those who have been bound down by a dominant race in circumstances over which they had no control—­a butt of ridicule and a mark of oppression; over whom weary ages of degradation have passed.  As the links have been broken and the shackles fallen from them through the unwearied efforts of our beloved martyr President Lincoln, as one I feel it a duty to improve the mind, and have ever had a thirst for education to fill that vacuum for which the soul has ever yearned since my earliest remembrance.

Thus I ask you to buy my little book to aid me in obtaining an education, that I may be enabled to do some good in behalf of the elevation of my emancipated brothers and sisters.  I have now arrived at the age of twenty.  As the first dawn of morning has passed, and the meridian of life is approaching, I know of no other way to speedily gain my object than through the aid and patronage of the friends of humanity.

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Note:  Miss Jackson sustains a high moral character—­has been much respected since she has been in Lawrence.  She is from St. Louis, Missouri, and arrived here on the 11th of April, 1866.  To gain the wish of the heart is utterly impossible without more means than she can obtain otherwise.  Her friends have borne her expenses to Lawrence, and have and are still willing to render her aid as far their limited means will allow.  She was in the same condition of all the neglected and oppressed.  Her personal requirements are amply supplied.  She now only craves the means to clothe and qualify the intellect.  My humble prayer is that she may meet with unlimited success.

This young lady is highly worthy of all the aid our kind friends feel a duty to bestow upon her.  She purposes lecturing and relating her story; and I trust she may render due satisfaction and bear some humble part in removing doubts indulged by the prejudices against the natural genius and talent of our race.  May God give her grace and speed her on her way.

Respectfully yours,
L. S. T.

MATTIE’S STORY

My ancestors were transported from Africa to America at the time the slave trade flourished in the Eastern States.  I cannot give dates, as my progenitors, being slaves, had no means of keeping them.  By all accounts my great grandfather was captured and brought from Africa.  His original name I never learned.  His master’s name was Jackson, and he resided in the State of New York.  My grandfather was born in the same State, and also remained a slave for some length of time, when he was emancipated, his master presenting him with quite an amount of property.  He was true, honest and responsible, and this present was given him as a reward.  He was much encouraged by the cheering prospect of better