https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/23/arts/john-jacobs-slavery-discovery.html Skip to contentSkip to site index Arts Today's Paper Arts|A Furious, Forgotten Slave Narrative Resurfaces After Nearly 170 Years https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/23/arts/ john-jacobs-slavery-discovery.html * Share full article * * * 195 Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The Great Read A Furious, Forgotten Slave Narrative Resurfaces After Nearly 170 Years John S. Jacobs was a fugitive, an abolitionist -- and the brother of the canonical author Harriet Jacobs. Now, his own fierce autobiography has re-emerged. Listen to this article * 11:34 min Learn more * Share full article * * * 195 An oil portrait shows a man in formal wear. "The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots," a denunciation of slavery by a formerly enslaved man named John S. Jacobs, was published in an Australian newspaper in 1855, and then forgotten. Above, an 1848 oil portrait that may depict Jacobs. Credit...Amani Willett for The New York Times Jennifer Schuessler By Jennifer Schuessler Published May 23, 2024Updated May 29, 2024 One day in 1855, a man walked into a newspaper office in Sydney, Australia, with an odd request. The man, later described as a "man of color" with "bright, intelligent eyes" and an American accent, was looking for a copy of the United States Constitution. The text was procured, along with a recent book on the history of the United States. Two weeks later, the man returned with a nearly 20,000-word text of his own, bearing a blunt title: "The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots." The first half offered an account of the author's birth into slavery in North Carolina around 1815, his escape from his master, his years on a whaling ship and then his departure from "the land of the free" for the shores of Australia, where he went to work in the gold fields. The second half was a long, blistering condemnation of the country he had left behind, in particular its revered founding document. "That devil in sheepskin called the Constitution of the United States," the man wrote, is "the great chain that binds the north and south together, a union to rob and plunder the sons of Africa, a union cemented with human blood, and blackened with the guilt of 68 years." The newspaper published the narrative anonymously, in two installments, attributing it only to "A Fugitive Slave." How it was received is unknown. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Site Index Site Information Navigation * (c) 2024 The New York Times Company * NYTCo * Contact Us * Accessibility * Work with us * Advertise * T Brand Studio * Your Ad Choices * Privacy Policy * Terms of Service * Terms of Sale * Site Map * Canada * International * Help * Subscriptions * Manage Privacy Preferences