Biography of a runaway slave

  • In this remarkable testimony, Cuban novelist and anthropologist Miguel Barnet presents the narrative of 105-year-old Esteban Montejo, who lived as a slave.
  • Originally published in 1966, Miguel Barnet's Biography of a Runaway Slave provides the written history of the life of Esteban Montejo, who lived as a slave, as.
  • The autobiography of a runaway slave / edited by Miguel Barnet ; translated from the Spanish by Jocasta Innes.

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    William Grimes (1784-1865) was the son of Benjamin Grymes, the wealthy owner of a plantation in King George County, Virginia, and an enslaved servant of Grymes's neighbor, a Dr. Steward. William Grimes served at least ten different masters in Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia, working in such varied positions as house servant, valet, field worker, stable boy, and coachman. He was light-skinned, a fact that enabled him to pass as white on various occasions. Often severely mistreated by both his masters and his fellow slaves, Grimes suffered physical abuse in the house and in the field, and at times became combative or despondent. He escaped slavery in 1814 by stowing away on a ship bound for New York and became an entrepreneur in New England. He eventually settled in New Haven, Connecticut, and married Clarissa Caesar in 1817. They had eighteen children together, twelve of whom survived. After eventually finding a small measure of success, Grimes lost all of his property when his mast

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    Biography of a Runaway Slave

    Barnet, Miguel. "Biography of a Runaway Slave". The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics, edited by Aviva Chomsky, Pamela Maria Smorkaloff, Barry Carr, Robin Kirk and Orin Starn, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2003, pp. 58-64. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822384915-012

    Barnet, M. (2003). Biography of a Runaway Slave. In A. Chomsky, P. Smorkaloff, B. Carr, R. Kirk & O. Starn (Ed.), The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics (pp. 58-64). New York, USA: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822384915-012

    Barnet, M. 2003. Biography of a Runaway Slave. In: Chomsky, A., Smorkaloff, P., Carr, B., Kirk, R. and Starn, O. ed. The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics. New York, USA: Duke University Press, pp. 58-64. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822384915-012

    Barnet, Miguel. "Biography of a Runaway Slave" In The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics edited bygd Aviva Chomsky, Pamela Maria Smorkaloff, Barry Carr, Robin Kirk and Or

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    Biography of a Runaway Slave

    by Miguel Barnet

    THE LITERARY WORK

    A biography of Esteban Montejo set in Cuba from his birth in 1860 to the turn of the century; published in Spanish (as Biografía de un cimarrón) in 1966, in English in 1968 under the title Autobiography of a Runaway Slave, and in 1994 as Biography of a Runaway Steve

    SYNOPSIS

    Written by Barnet in the first-person voice of Montejo, the biography recounts Montejo’s life as a slave, runaway, plantation worker, and rebel soldier in the Cuban War of Independence.

    Events in History at the Time the Biography Takes Place

    The Biography in Focus

    Events in History at the Time the Biography was Written

    For More Information

    Miguel Barnet was born in 1940 and raised in Havana, Cuba. In the late 1950s he became interested in Afro-Cuban religion and trained as a folklorist beneath the direction of Fernando Ortiz, a pioneer in the study of Afro-Cuban culture. The Cuban Revolution (1959) had a tremendous impact on Barne

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