Publisher's Synopsis
William Wells Brown's first novel, Clotel, published in 1853, is consideredby most scholars to be the first novelpublished by an African American. Thenovel is based on the belief, currentat the time, that Thomas Jeffersonhad fathered an illegitimate mulattodaughter with Sally Hemings. In Brown'snovel, the supposed mistress of thePresident is a woman named Currer.The novel follows the lives of Currerand her two daughters: Althesa andClotel. Currer and Althesa are sold tothe notorious slave trader Dick Walker, and Clotel is rescued by her "white" savior, Horatio Green, but thelives of all three women end in tragedy. So on a basic level, thenovel is a powerful reminder of the horrifying injustices experiencedby African-Americans during slavery. But the novel is also a searingindictment of American society and the American ideal writ large.Brown begins with the implicit idea that Thomas Jefferson himself, the author of the Declaration of American Independence, was also aslave owner and quite indifferent to the humiliations his slaves surelyexperienced; but Brown makes sure that we as the reader experiencethese humiliations first-hand through the lives of Currer, Althesaand Clotel. In addition, Brown masterfully weaves together variousanecdotes, poetry, folk songs and ditties, vignettes of slave life, andeven newspaper accounts into the novel, in order to promote anabolitionist agenda. By the novel's end, we can no longer ignore thedebasement and recurring victimization of these three black womenunder slavery. The pain of these women has become our pain. Weare now ready to join with all those who are fighting for the rights ofAfrican-Americans.
