James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw

A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (Dodo Press)

Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, also known as James Albert, (ca. 1705-1775) was a freed slave and autobiographer. His autobiography, A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, is considered the first published by an African in Britain. Produced in Kidderminster in the late 1760's and published in 1772, the title page explains that it was "committed to paper by the elegant pen of a young lady of the town of Leominster". It was the first slave narrative in the English language and gives a vivid account of Gronniosaw's life, from his capture in Africa through slavery to a life of poverty in Colchester and Kidderminster. He was attracted to this last town because it was at one time the home of Richard Baxter, a seventeenth century Calvinist minister whom Gronniosaw much admired. The preface was written by the reverend Walter Shirley who interprets Gronniosaw's experience of enslavement and his journey from Bornu to New York as an example of Calvinist predestination and election.