Bermudian slave woman, Mary Prince, was an extraordinary person.

Born in 1788 at Brackish Pond, Bermuda, she is famous for being the first black British woman to escape from the abomination of slavery and publish a record of her experiences.

Her story is classified as a "slave narrative'' and appeared in London in 1831. From her lips she told her story and it was transcribed by Susanna Strickland Moodie. Mary Prince was living in London in the 1830s as she had escaped from her horrifically cruel owners, the Woods, and was free when she fled from them while they were living in England. The family was from Antigua and they travelled to England for the sake of their son's education.

At this time slavery had been abolished in the British empire and technically, Mary Prince was a free woman the moment she set foot on England.

Professor Sandy Campbell of the University of Ottawa explains the story was actually a 40-page pamphlet and was described as a "scandalous'' success. The story was edited and published before the end of 1831 by Thomas Pringle who was associated with the anti-slavery society in England. It became a bestseller and three editions were published.

It is a compelling story and offers first hand facts about the misery of human bondage. Her words quickly dispel the concept of "benign slavery'' in Bermuda. She recalls her enslavement in Bermuda, Turks Island, and Antigua.

One quickly sees the sufferings and indignities which slavery cast out to blacks during the slavery era.

"I was born at Brackish-Pond, in Bermuda, on a farm belonging to Mr. Charles Myners. My mother was a household slave; and my father, whose names was Prince, was a sawyer belonging to Mr. Trimmingham, a ship-builder at Crow-Lane. When I was an infant, old Mr. Myners died, and there was a division of the slaves and other property among the family. I was bought along with my mother by old Captain Darrel, and given to his grandchild, little Miss Betsey Williams.'' This is the beginning of the Prince story. She does say that she grew to love Miss Betsey and that her childhood with her was the happiest period of her life as a slave. At age 12 her mistress became too poor to keep many of the home slaves and she was hired out to a neighbour about five miles away.

"I cried bitterly at parting with my dear mistress and Miss Betsey, and when I kissed my mother and brothers and sisters, I thought my young heart would break, it pained me so. But there was no help; I was forced to go.'' One of the most heart wrenching aspects of slavery was separation of family.

Slaves were bought and sold without consideration of family ties in many cases. Mary Prince felt that few prominent whites empathised with the separations of the Negroes. In the following passage she poignantly relates her experience of being sold one day: "At length the vendue master, who was to offer us for sale like sheep or cattle, arrived, and asked my mother which was the eldest. She said nothing, but pointed to me. He took me by the hand, and led me out into the middle of the street, and, turning me slowly round, exposed me to the view of those who attended the vendue. I was soon surrounded by strange men, who examined and handled me in the same manner that a butcher would a calf or a lamb he was about to purchase, and who talked about my shape and size in like words -- as if I could no more understand their meaning than the dumb beasts. I was then put up for sale. The bidding commenced at a few pounds, and gradually rose to fifty-seven, when I was knocked down to the highest bidder; and the people who stood by said that I had fetched a great sum for so young a slave.'' On this day Mary Prince was purchased by a certain Captain I-----, who lived at Spanish Point, Bermuda. The Captain is portrayed to be very brutal and imposed savage beatings upon her with his hand as this excerpt tells: "He tied me upon a ladder upon a ladder, and gave me a hundred lashes with his own hand. When he had licked me for some time he sat down to take breath; then after resting, he beat me again and again, until he was quite wearied, and so hot (for the weather was very sultry), that he sank back in his chair, almost like to faint.'' This particular beating almost killed Mary Prince and she states she was left in a dreadful state, "... my body all blood and bruises, and I could not help moaning piteously.'' Beatings were a constant with this hateful master for five years until he boarded her onto a sloop and they sailed to Turk's Island on a four-week voyage. Prince was about 20 years old at this time. At Grand Quay on Turk's she was sold to Mr. D----------------, a stout sulky man who was an owner of a salt pond.

Here she performed horrific work gathering salt in great heaps for export.

"I was given a half barrel and a shovel, and had to stand up to my knees in the water, from four o'clock in the morning till nine, when we were given some Indian corn boiled in water. We were then called again to our tasks , and worked through the heat of the day; the sun flaming upon our heads like fire, and raising salt blisters in those parts which were not completely covered.

Our feet and legs , from standing in the salt water for so many hours, soon became full of dreadful boils, which eat down in some cases to the very bone, afflicting the sufferers with great torment.'' If any slave eased up on Turk's they were stripped naked and beaten with cow skin until the body was "raw with gashes.'' Another incredible job they had to do was row a little way off from the shore to dive for large stones to build a wall around the master's house.

"This was very hard work; and the great waves breaking over us continually, made us often so giddy that we lost our footing, and were in danger of being drowned.'' Mary Prince traveled back to Bermuda with this Mr. D-------------------- who horrifically abused her and his daughter in drunken fits of fury. Eventually she leaves to go to St. John's, Antigua with Mr. and Mrs. John Wood. Mrs. Wood is cruel to Mary and has her flogged and even caged her one night. Most of Prince's efforts to please this dreadful mistress were futile and she was inflicted with verbal and physical abuse from her regularly.

One positive did come from Antigua. Mary Prince was allowed to join the Moravian Church. Most of her education was from learning to read the Bible.

The Moravians in England aided Prince's cause when she made the tremendous decision to leave the cruel Wood family and seek her freedom. She was in a strange country and was only acquainted with Master Wood and family. It took surmountable courage for her to leave them, cruel as they were.

Near the end of this narrative Prince generalises on behalf of all slaves, "All slaves want to be free - to be free is very sweet. I have been a slave myself - I know what slaves feel - I can tell by myself what other slaves feel, and by what they have told me. The man that says slave be quite happy in slavery -- that they don't want to be free -- that man is either ignorant or a lying person. I never heard a slave say so.'' Another era: Susette H. Lloyd's 1835 picturesque drawing of Flatts Village from her book, "Sketches of Bermuda'', courtesy of Bermuda Archives. This is a distinct contrast to Prince's depictions.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH HIS