William Wells Brown

William Wells Brown (1814-1884) was a prominent abolitionist, historian, novelist, and playwright. Brown was an African-American pioneer in various literary genres....

Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter is rooted not only in the horrific reality of institutional slavery but also in the historical fact of Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with the enslaved Sally Hemings (here represented by the character Currer)....

By making his case for the equality of negroes in an era when white society believed otherwise, Brown provides more than 50 portraits of African Americans who managed to achieve and to make a difference in the face of prejudice and slavery....

Clotel; or, The President's Daughter is an 1853 novel by the author and playwright William Wells Brown. Set in the early 19th century, it is the story of Clotel and her sister Althesa, who are fictional slave daughters of Thomas Jefferson....

First published in 1853 amidst rumors that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with one of his slaves, Clotel is a fictional chronicle of one such child....

"Brother, you have often declared that you would not end your days in slavery...."

Clotel (1853), the first novel written by an African American, was published in London while the author was still legally regarded as "property" in the United States....