This
dissertation
explores
The
History
of
Mary
Prince,
A
West
Indian
Slave,
Related
by
Herself
(1831)
from
an
historical
perspective.
I
place
Prince
in
the
story
of
British
Abolition,
and
examine
Prince’s
and
her
family’s
relationships
with
their
Bermudian
slave-‐owners,
and
Prince’s
relationships
with
Moravian
missionaries
in
Antigua.
Oral
traditions
regarding
Prince
from
Grand
Turk
Island
and
Antigua
directed
my
archival
explorations,
which
resulted
in
findings
that
confirm
and
broaden
aspects
of
Prince’s
story.
I
also
located
two
still-‐standing
residences
associated
with
Prince
in
Bermuda.
As
well,
I
analyze
the
collaborative
writing
team
that
produced
Prince’s
slave
narrative
from
the
perspective
of
Abolition.
Mary
Prince
was
the
storyteller,
Susanna
Strickland
(later
Moodie)
was
the
compiler,
and
Thomas
Pringle
was
the
editor
and
financial
backer
of
the
project.
Additionally,
I
consider
Ashton
Warner’s
Negro
Slavery
Described
(1831),
which
was
a
product
of
the
same
team,
but
with
Warner
as
storyteller.
I
suggest
that
the
two
slave
narratives
were
a
duology
to
be
read
in
tandem.
I
draw
out
a
central
image
from
both
slave
narratives—the
enslaved,
bound,
and
flogged
black
woman—and
propose
that
abolitionists
used
this
image
to
bring
about
social
change
by
witnessing.
My
thesis
includes
a
curriculum
based
on
The
History
of
Mary
Prince,
which
works
with
Bermuda’s
Social
Studies
curriculum,
and
I
have
created
a
website,
maryprince.org,
to
supplement
this
curriculum.
The
website
also
stands
alone
as
an
educational
resource
for
students
and
teachers
worldwide.
The
fundamental
goal
of
the
curriculum
is
to
open
students’
historical
consciousness
to
the
Middle
Passage
and
to
colonial
enslavement
so
that
they
may
understand
a
root
cause
of
racism
in
the
Americas.
To
aid
with
this,
I
have
theorized
an
educational
approach
to
open
historical
consciousness
that
is
procedural
in
nature,
and
includes
autobiographical
survivor
accounts,
primary
sources,
visiting
significant
sites,
secondary
sources,
and
fictionalized
accounts.
I
use
the
metaphor
of
“nesting
dolls”
to
explain
this
approach.
I
also
argue
that
creolization
is
a
path
of
hope
and
that
a
history-‐infused
food
garden
is
a
place
where
we
may
learn
about
our
creolized
identity
