Harriett Wilson, First African-American Novelist in America

Harriet "Hattie" Wilson began life in controversy. She was born to Joshua Green, an African-American and Margaret Ann of Irish ancestry. Her father died when she was young and her mother abandoned her to the Hayward family.

Wilson grew up as an indentured servant in the Hayward home. As was customary at the time, an indentured servant received room, board and life skills in exchange for service.

Wilson worked as a house servant and seamstress after her indenture to the Hayward family. She married Thomas Wilson after they met while he was giving lectures about his life as an escaped slave. He abandoned Wilson soon after their marriage while she was pregnant and ill.

Wilson gave birth to her only child, a son, at the Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Poor Farm in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Thomas Wilson reappeared shortly and took Hattie and his son away from the Poor Farm. Being a wanderer, however, it wasn't long before Thomas Wilson took to the sea and died soon after.

On her own again, Wilson returned her son to the Poor Farm and went to Boston in search of a way to support them both. It was in Boston where Wilson wrote her novel, "Our Nig." She had it copyrighted and a copy deposited in the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts in August 1859. On September 5, 1859 George C. Rand and Avery, a publishing firm in Boston, published the novel.

It was the only thing Wilson would ever write, but it earned her the right to be known as the first published African-American novelist in the United States.

Shortly after the book's publication, Wilson's son died at the Poor Farm at the age of seven years old. For a time after, Wilson seems to have vanished until she reappeared in 1867 living in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. By this time, Wilson was making a living as a trance reader and lecturer and was known in Spiritualist circles as "the colored medium."

In 1870, Wilson married John Gallatin Robinson, a Canadian. Though it was known the two separated after several years, no divorce records exist.

Wilson spoke extensively about her life experiences though none of her lectures were ever documented verbatim. Newspaper reports implied that Wilson's commentary was often humorous.

Wilson was active within her community, organizing Christmas celebrations, participating in skits and plays and making candies and confectioneries for children.

She worked as a nurse and a "clairvoyant physician" and ran a boarding house on Village Street.

Wilson died June 28, 1900 in Quincy, Massachusetts at the age of 75.

More than 100 years after the publication of "Our Nig," scholars debate whether or not Wilson was truly the first African-American woman novelist. The novel was practically unheard of and unknown until Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. discovered its existence in 1982. [1]

Since that time, William Andrews, English literature professor at the University of North Carolina and Mitch Kachun, history professor at Western Michigan University, have argued that Wilson's novel is more autobiography than fiction. These two scholars present a novel by Julia C. Collins, "The Curse of the Caste; or The Slave Bride" published in 1865 as being the first published work by an African-American novelist.

However, it has been stated that a number of works during the same period of the 1850s were autobiographical in nature or had some autobiographical elements to them. Therefore, Wilson's work should also be considered a novel.

The first known novel by an African-American is "Clotel" or "The President's Daughter" by William Wells Brown. It was originally published in the United Kingdom in 1853.

However, the strongest argument to support Wilson's being the first novel by an African-American woman is that Wilson's novel was actually published in book form.

"The Curse of the Caste" or "The Slave Bride" by Julia C. Collins was serialized in 1865 in The Christian Recorder, a newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Before the serial was completed, Collins died of consumption and the story was left unfinished. Andrews himself wrote two alternate endings, one happy and one tragic.

The debate continues about which of these two women was the first African-American woman novelist.

The entire manuscript of "Our Nig" can be read here.

The Harriet Wilson Project unveiled a full size bronze statue of Harriet Wilson in Milford, New Hampshire on November 5, 2006. The Harriet Wilson Project has also established the Harriet Wilson Scholarship Fund for college students studying the Arts and Humanities.[2]

Sources:

[1] The New York Times
[2] Harriet Wilson Project
University of Virginia Library