Clotel

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Clotel: Or, the President's Daughter
current UK paperback edition
Author William Wells Brown
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Partridge & Oakey
Released 1853
Media Type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 320 pp (paperback edition) (current UK)
ISBN ISBN 0-14-243772-7 (paperback edition) (current UK)

Clotel; or, The President's Daughter is a novel by William Wells Brown (1815-84), a fugitive from slavery and abolitionist and was published in London, England in December 1853. It gained notoriety amid the unconfirmed rumors regarding Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. Brown was still considered someone else's legal property within the borders of the United States at the time of its publication. It is considered to be the first novel written by an African American. The book follows the experiences of three generations of women during slavery.

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Brown used the injustices of slavery to demonstrate the destructive effects it had on the African American family, most significantly the so-called tragic mulatto. Brown had escaped from slavery in Kentucky while still in his youth, became active on the antislavery circuit, and became a delegate to the World Peace Congress in 1849.

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