2. NANCY GARDNER PRINCE
• Born– 1799
• Died ? [but has been put at 1883]
• Born in Newburyport Massachusetts into a family of
free black American and native American heritage
• 1807-13 Works as maidservant/in domestic service
under harsh conditions and becomes physically frail.
• 1817 Baptized by Rev. Thomas Paul, Boston Black
community leader and founder of the first
independent African American Church in the North.
3. NANCY GARDNER PRINCE
1824 marries Nero Prince, second Grand master of
Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Freemasons 1807-09 also
• .
had seafaring connections; they travel to Russia
where he is a guard at the imperial court under
Alexander I then Nicolas I.
1824 Narrowly escapes death during great flood in
St Petersburg
1825 Witnesses the Decembrist Revolt – attempt by
military and noblemen to assume power after death
of Alexander I.
4. NANCY GARDNER PRINCE
• 1833 Returns to the United States – Nero Prince dies
• 1839-40 Lectures on Russia/Observes conditions in
post-emancipation Jamaica
• 1841 Returns to the United States to raise funds for
a free labor school / publishes The West Indies- a
pamphlet
• 1842 Returns to Jamaica
• 1850 publishes A narrative of the Life and Travels of
Mrs. Nancy Prince
5. Women Writer-travellers’ - Motivations For Travel
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40% 36%
31%
30%
20% 17%
10% 7%
10%
0%
Holiday Spouse Work Adventure Exile
*Nancy Prince classed as an adventurer.
From Plural Perspectives: Women Writer-travellers in nineteenth-century
Central America and the Caribbean
6. Women Writer-travellers Total ‘Type’ Of Text
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40% 31%
30% 21%
19% 19% 19%
20% 12%
10%
0%
Auth. Private Letters Travel Gds. Creative Memoir
Account Circ. Writing
*From Plural Perspectives: Women Writer-travellers in
nineteenth-century Central America and the Caribbean
7.
8.
9. ADVERTISEME
NT
REQUESTING
FUNDS
‘As soon as I was
able I commenced
my task of
collecting funds for
my free labor
school in Jamaica’.
C. Fish, Black and White Women’s Travel Narratives, Antebellum
Explorations (Florida, 2004),