[Dutton], a Letter to the Negroes Lately Converted

The Letter to the Negroes lately Converted to Christ in America was published anonymously in London 1743. Fewer than a dozen copies worldwide now exist, and only one is outside of the United States. Attributing the authorship to Whitefield fails to account for the fact that it was published anonymously. The most likely candidate for authorship is Anne Dutton, wife of a Baptist minister, and prolific author. Crucially she was a close associate of George Whiteheld, and had taken on some of his letter-writing duties, including those to Jonathan Bryan in South Carolina. Quite how slaves responded to the message that they should be meek and patient in sufferings’ and that the ‘glorious liberty’ and ‘glorious rest’ which Christ would grant faithful slaves would ultimately by a posthumous one, is not easy to discern.