response to incidents in the life of a slave girl

Normally the reading public in America did not accept a narrative written by a former slave unless it had the approval or blessing of an established, upstanding member of the community. It wouldn’t be believed. This in itself suggests something about race and citizenship in the early American republic. For this paper, you are to imagine that you are that upstanding member of the community, usually an abolitionist. Frederick Douglass or Harriet Jacobs have just been introduced to you and presented you with this manuscript that they would like to see published. You are to write a 3-4 page double-spaced, stapled paper that will serve as a preface to either Douglass or Jacob’s narrative. Your preface should instruct readers why they must pay attention to this narrative. You should outline what lessons it may impart to Americans about slavery and freedom, and why it illuminates some immoral aspect of slavery. That injustice might be economic, political, social or a violation of gender, family, or religious mores of the day. (You will have read the manuscript beforehand and should call readers’ attention to certain events or incidents that occur inside, but don’t give too much away.)