Austin Reed's The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict

Date

2018-02-16

Journal Title

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Volume Title

Publisher

Scholar's Symposium, The University of Tampa

Abstract

This lecture by Dr. Caleb Smith, Professor of English and American studies at Yale University, introduces The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict (1858), the recently recovered memoir of an African American inmate at New York’s Auburn State Prison. It considers Reed’s account of indentured servitude, a juvenile reformatory and an industrial prison—scenes of captivity and unfree labor that he connected to slavery in the South. The lecture also touches on the discovery and authentication of Reed’s manuscript and the strange artistry of his writing.

Description

Please click on YouTube Video link above to stream the presentation.

Keywords

Scholar's symposium, Writers at the University, English Department, Yale University, Austin Reed, African American, Prison, Convict

Citation

DOI

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