November 23, 2015
Reed’s account of his troubled youth, written in the 19th century but never before published, provides a fascinating look into the prison system of antebellum America. Reed is six years old when his father dies. Shortly after, Reed tries to murder the farmer he is indentured to and burns down the man’s house. This leads to a sentence—sometime, it is believed, in the 1850s—at the nation’s first reformatory, the recently opened New York House of Refuge. Once there, his life becomes a succession of escapes and brutal whippings. After a final escape, Reed enjoys a picaresque series of adventures as a bartender and then as a manservant to a pair of traveling gamblers, after which he rejoins his troubled family. Further criminal escapades lead to his imprisonment in Auburn State Prison and a new cycle of abuse. Reed’s manuscript was completely unknown before it came to light at an estate sale in the early 2000s. Historical research has identified the author, but little has been discovered about his life. Yet the book stands on its own as a remarkable accomplishment for a poorly educated convict. Drawing upon various contemporary literary styles, Reed fashioned a personal and moving, albeit uneven, story of underclass struggle before the Civil War. The editors emphasize the tradition of African-American slave and prison literature, but Reed rejects ethnic identification, and his greatest praise is reserved for his Irish fellow inmates and their families. Reed’s protean nature makes this book a remarkable discovery. Agent, Wendy Strothman, Strothman Agency.
November 15, 2015
An obscure, newly unearthed 19th-century memoir details the prison life of an African-American inmate. Discovered at an estate sale by a rare book dealer and authenticated by a Yale curating team, Reed's handwritten, hand-sewn manuscript dated 1858 is now duly recognized with publication in its entirety. A lengthy discussion provided by the book's editor, Caleb Smith, supplies vital details on the lengths taken to authenticate the document's history and its genesis as the first-known penitentiary narrative by an African-American writer. Smith pieces together Reed's life through prison records and varied archival sources to establish a complementary preface to the author's narrative self-portrait. Written for public consumption, Reed's lyrical, dramatic prose describes his incremental descent into the New York penal system and a life in legal captivity, by way of a rebellious youth tarnished by the death of his father and a cursory upbringing by a struggling, widowed mother who sent him to work on a farm at a young age. This is the first of three stories of imprisonment Reed depicts. Defiant and uncooperative, he writes of being severely beaten by the farmer, who then met his demise during a revenge plot, which landed the author in the New York House of Refuge reformatory, his second confinement, at 12. Reed toiled and received an education but remained defiant, as evidenced by a botched escape attempt with other inmates. Returning to the clutches of sadistic constables, the author describes their corporal punishments in feverish detail. A repetitive pattern of larcenies and thefts earned him subsequent sentences served at the Auburn state penitentiary during the unreformed antebellum years; Reed endured frequent episodes of dehumanizing punishment. "Rendered with a haunting eloquence," much of the memoir's allure is derived from Reed's poetic, lyrical, passionate voice. A moving, significant narrative that affords both an elegantly produced glimpse of 19th-century prison life and a new chapter in African-American history through a convict's eyes.
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Starred review from January 1, 2016
Although written more than 100 years ago, this work is appearing in print for the first time. Reed was a free African American in New York State who spent most of his youth and early adulthood, from the 1830s through the 1860s, in reformatories and prisons. His story was lost and unknown until the manuscript turned up at auction in 2009. This candid and stirring autobiography provides an intimate look at the cruel and violent world of crime and punishment in the 19th century. Reed is honest in his description of the helplessness he felt as an indentured servant and the anger and frustration that led to multiple convictions for larceny and arson. Editor Smith (The Prison and the American Imagination) preserves the character of Reed's direct but unpolished prose. Smith's introduction places Reed's story in context, providing a helpful overview of the penal system in which Reed spent most of his life and describing the process undertaken to authenticate the manuscript when it finally came to light. VERDICT Reed's unique story is highly recommended to anyone interested in African American history or the history of crime and punishment in the United States.--Nicholas Graham, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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