Nancy Gardner Prince
b. 1799 - 1860(?)

I made my way through a long yard, over the bodies of men and beasts, and when opposite their gate I sunk; I made one grasp, and the earth gave away; I grasped again, and fortunately got hold of the leg of a horse, that had been drowned. I drew myself up, covered with mire, and made my way a little further, when I was knocked down by striking against a boat, that had been washed up and left by the retiring waters; and as I had lost my lantern, I was obliged to grope my way as I could, and feeling along the walk, I at last found the door that I aimed at.

--Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince

Biography / Criticism

That we know anything about a woman named Nancy Gardner Prince lies entirely in the fact that she published Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince. Appearing for the first time in 1850, Narrative exists today as a unique, fascinating, and important autobiographical account of life as a free black woman in antebellum America.

Although Prince's narrative is short in length, it chronicles her family lineage, the trials of her childhood, and her trips to Russia, Jamaica, and the U.S. over the course of eighteen years. As she tells us in the first lines of her narrative, she was born on September 15th, 1799, in Newburyport, Massachusetts. From an early age, she found jobs to help support her thrice-widowed mother and seven siblings. In 1824, she married Nero Prince, who served the tsar of Russia, and left the U.S. with him for St. Petersburg, where they lived for nine years. She returned to the U.S. alone in 1833 for health reasons and became a widow before Nero could join her. In 1840 she went to Jamaica as a missionary, returned to the U.S. in 1841 to raise money, and in 1842 made a final trip to Jamaica for just a few months. In the fall of 1842, Prince returned to the U.S. for the last time. She then published editions of her narrative in 1850, 1853, and 1856. The facts of her life after 1856 remain unknown.

Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince proves significant to a range of disciplines, including literary, historical, race, and gender studies. As an autobiographical travelogue, the narrative offers students of travel, nineteenth-century American, African-American, and women's literatures a glimpse at something very rare indeed -- writing by a free black before the Civil War that chronicles international travel.

During these travels, Prince witnesses some remarkable historical events. Commenting not just upon slavery and racism in the U.S., as might be expected from a black woman at this time, Prince describes the 1824 flood of St. Petersburg, the deaths of Emperor Alexander I and Empress Elizabeth, the following succession crisis, and the Decembrist Revolt of 1826. But as a black woman, Prince renders a perspective on these events that is relatively uncommon to the traditional telling of history. Consequently, her narrative provides occasion to examine nineteenth-century racial and gender constructs through the eyes of someone who felt the effects of such oppressive social practices. And yet, Prince's narrative is not about being oppressed, but is instead a journey of self-discovery and self-fulfillment. By the end of the narrative, Prince has become much more experienced, authoritative, and self-assured, contributing an invaluable record of life as a free black woman in nineteenth-century America.

Selected Bibliography

Works by the Author

• A Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince (1856)
• The West Indies: Being a Description of the Islands, Progress of Christianity, Education, and Liberty among the Colored Population Generally (1841)

Works about the Author

• Brusky, Sarah. "The Veiled Lady: Nancy Prince and her Gothic Odyssey." Gender, Genre, and Identity in Women's Travel Writing. Ed. Kristi Siegel. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, forthcoming 2002.
• Fish, Cheryl. "Journeys and Warnings: Nancy Prince's Travels as Cautionary Tales for African American Readers." Women at Sea: Travel Writing and the Margins of Caribbean Discourse. Eds. Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert and Ivette Romero-Cesareo. New York: Palgrave, 2001. 225-43.
• McEwan, Jo Dawn. "Nancy Gardner Prince." Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., 1992. 882-884.
• Walters, Ronald G. Introduction. Black Woman's Odyssey through Russia and Jamaica: The Narrative of Nancy Prince. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1990.

Related Links

New York Public Library, Digital Library Collection An online text of A Narrative of the Life and Travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince, from The Schomburg Library of African American Women Writers of the Nineteenth Century.

This page was researched and submitted by: Sarah Brusky on 5/10/02.