When Richmond slave owner John Graves passes away, his slaves are put up for sale. Though Clotel is a sentimental novel in the style of the 19th century, it is also a call to action. Clotel’s connection to Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, is a comment on the incongruence of slavery in a nation built on the concept of personal freedom. He also condemns Christian slave owners who, rather than embracing their fellow man, manipulate Christianity to oppress them for personal gain. In Clotel, Brown depicts the suffering of the slaves as they endure family separation, sexual exploitation, and dehumanization. Due to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, he was unable to return to America and lived in England until 1854, when friends purchased his freedom from his master. Brown published Clotel in London, having lived there during a stint of speaking engagements on the subjects of slavery and abolition.
He also borrows plot details from other stories, a technique critics argue contributes to a sense of shared humanity. The novel is more than the story of a fictional slave, however: Brown includes newspaper articles, advertisements, and real-life anecdotes to present a picture of the horrors of slavery and to add credibility to his account. Drawing on what were, in the 19th century, rumors that Thomas Jefferson had children with his slave Sally Hemings, the novel follows the slave Clotel and her family as they are sold to different masters. It is a founding text of the African American novelistic tradition, a brilliantly composed and richly detailed exploration of human relations in a new world in which race is a cultural construct.Clotel or, The President’s Daughter, published in 1853 by former slave William Wells Brown, is considered the first African-American novel. A fast-paced and harrowing tale of slavery and freedom, of the hypocrisies of a nation founded on democratic principles, Clotel is more than a sensationalist novel. Escaping from the slave dealer, Clotel returns to Virginia disguised as a white man in order to rescue her daughter, Mary, a slave in her father's house. The Virginian who buys Clotel falls in love with her, gets her pregnant, seems to promise marriage-then sells her. The story begins with the auction of his mistress, here called Currer, and their two daughters, Clotel and Althesa. First published in December 1853, Clotel was written amid then unconfirmed rumors that Thomas Jefferson had fathered children with one of his slaves.
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