Recollections of My Slavery Days
By William Henry Singleton, Edited by Katherine Mellen Charron, David S. Cecelski
Approx. 142 pp., 5.5 x 7.5, 16 images, 3 maps, appends., notes, index, 19 halftones
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Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8652-6510-3
Published: December 2024
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Distributed for the North Carolina Office of Archives and History
The Civil War stands as a turning point in Singleton’s narrative. In 1862 he escaped from a Confederate soldier and fled to freedom in Union-occupied New Bern. There he helped to recruit one of the first African American regiments in the Union army and subsequently served as a sergeant in the Thiry-fifth United States Colored Troops. Until the day he died, at a reunion for Civil War veterans in 1938, Singleton insisted that his wartime service pledged the United States to fulfill its promise of freedom and equality for all citizens.
Originally published in a local newspaper in Peekskill, New York, Recollections of My Slavery Days is a rare, long forgotten account of American slavery that has not previously been available to a national audience. In this landmark edition, Katherine Mellen Charron and Davis S. Cecelski provide scholarly annotations and an introductory essay as critical background to understanding Singleton’s narrative. Examining his life and times, they situate Recollections in the context of African American history and autobiography.
About the Authors
Katherine Mellon Charron received a Ph.D in history from Yale University. She is assistant professor at Iowa State University.
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Historian David S. Cecelski received a Ph.D from Harvard University and is the author of several award-winning books, including The Waterman's Song: Slavery and Freedom in Maritime North Carolina.
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