Historian to explore NC slave narratives in Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – Three courageous African American North Carolinians who escaped slavery put pen to paper to describe their experiences.

Researcher Laurel C. Sneed will share their stories in “Beyond 12 Years A Slave: The Influential Slave Narratives of Tar Heels Moses Roper, Harriet Jacobs, and William H. Singleton” at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 5, at the Asheboro Public Library.

The talk, part of the North Carolina Humanities Council’s Road Scholar program, is free and the public is invited.

Sneed will examine how the three authors — Roper from Caswell County, Jacobs from Edenton and Singleton from New Bern — left their mark on the slave narrative literary tradition. The mission of slave narratives was to persuade readers to support the anti-slavery agenda.  She also will discuss the veracity of the narratives, which often are dismissed as propaganda, and compare the North Carolina writings to Solomon Northrop’s  12 Years A Slave.

Based in Durham, Sneed is an educator, researcher and filmmaker. In 1995, her research helped uncover the origins of famed Caswell County cabinetmaker Thomas Day. Since then she has produced a broad range of materials on Day as well as on other African American historical topics.

Her visit is made possible by funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide non-profit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Friends of the Library.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.