Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself, Douglass's autobiography, was first published in 1845. Douglass tells of his life as a slave in the American South, the cruelty of Christian slaveholders, and how, after learning to read, he finally was able to escape to freedom.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, written in 1861 by Harriet Jacobs, is the first slave narrative written by an African-American woman. Jacobs tells of the particular problems experienced by women in slavery—sexual exploitation, the separation of mother and children—and makes emotional appeals to her white female reading audience.

Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, in a Two-Story White House, North, written in 1859 by Harriet Wilson, is the first published novel by an African-American woman. Wilson's novel focuses on the...