Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 263

Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
(LITERATURE.) Susan Paul. Memoir of James Jackson, the Attentive and Obedient Scholar, who Died in Boston . . . Aged Six Years. 88 pages. 12mo, contemporary cloth with original printed spine label, minor wear; moderate foxing, minimal wear; 1835 gift inscription on front flyleaf. Boston: James Loring, 1835
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Additional Details

The first biography written by a Black woman. Susan Paul (1809-1841) came from an activist family. Her father, Thomas Paul was a Baptist minister and an active member of the New England Anti-Slavery Society. She became a teacher and organized the Juvenile Choir of Boston composed of her students, ages 3 to 10, and was moved by the death of one of these little children to write a memoir of his short life. She recounts the "incidents in the life of a little colored boy" for a juvenile audience, addressing issues of color and prejudice through stories and parables. Afro-Americana Supplement 1660; not in Blockson. 4 in OCLC.

Provenance: This copy was a gift from a white Baptist clergyman, Silas Ripley (1796-1868), to his young daughter Lusanna Collamore Ripley (1828-1838), who was about the same age as the unfortunate James Jackson at the time; she died three years later.

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