ABSTRACT
Many black U.S.-born women wrote major works in the mid-nineteenth century that accentuated freedom. In Carla Peterson’s words, “The 1850s constitute a significant moment in the history of African-American literary production as they were the first decade to bear witness to the publication of full-length fictional narratives written by blacks, both male and female.” 63 This was not surprising during the antebellum period when slavery, insurgency, and independence became prominent national issues. 64 That time frame saw passage of the Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Supreme Courts Dred Scott decision. The Fugitive Slave Act (1850) stipulated that assisting escaped slaves was punishable.
