A man born into slavery in the year 1803 and with the dreams of attaining freedom

The Authors name is Lunsford Lane who wrote the Narrative of Lunsford Lane.

A man born into slavery in the year 1803 and with the dreams of attaining freedom recounts his story from bondage to freedom. He begins with mentioning the death of his master and how he pleaded with his deceased master’s widow to buy his freedom. In order to get the assets required to free himself he manufactured pipes and tobacco. While attaining large amounts of income he remains conscientious when deciding to remain “Shabbily dressed” and concealing the amount of his pay only to his wife. Upon attaining $1000 he goes to her to buy his freedom where he formally and legally could not for a year receive emancipation except for “meritorious services”. He began to feel unsafe and accompanied his master (although only by name) to New York for business and formally became a freeman there and received his manumission. He mentions how that when the money was payed to his mistress, he felt an over joyous feeling, feelings of comfort, contentment, and of tranquility in which he felt the sweetness of sleep for the first time as a free man. The conclusion that I have gotten from this is that the institution of slavery very well wanted to keep blacks as salve and made freedom extremely difficult monetizing blacks even towards freedom. It also displays the contrast of living as a salve and as a free man in even how his sleep changed.