Details

ISBN-10: 0300260962
ISBN-13: 9780300260960
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publish Date: 10/26/2021
Dimensions: 7.70" L, 5.10" W, 1.00" H

The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The Story of the Enslaved Jamaican Who Became Samuel Johnson’s Heir

Paperback

Price: $20.00

Overview

The story of the extraordinary relationship between Francis Barber, a former slave, and Samuel Johnson, England’s most distinguished man of letters

“A remarkable work of detection, a biography of a black Briton from the eighteenth century that brings to life a rich and vital aspect of our shared history.”–David Olusoga

Born into slavery in Jamaica about 1742, Francis Barber was brought to London as a young boy, becoming a servant in the household of the renowned Dr. Samuel Johnson. He joined the British navy for a time but returned to Johnson’s service, eventually becoming his friend and heir. Barber was one of thousands of black Britons in the period. This is the story of his life, the hostility and support he encountered, and his extraordinary friendship with England’s most distinguished man of letters.

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Reviews
"No longer a footnote to Johnson's story, Barber emerges as a man whose complicated story gives an inside view of what it was like to be a black man in 18th-century Britain."–Gretchen Gerzina, author of Black London
–Gretchen Gerzina
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Details

ISBN-10: 0300260962
ISBN-13: 9780300260960
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publish Date: 10/26/2021
Dimensions: 7.70" L, 5.10" W, 1.00" H
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