These documents, titled the life and adventure of a haunted prisoner, tell the story of an African-American boy named "Rob" Reid. "He grew up in Rochester, new york, and was convicted of arson in 1833 when he was a child. Reid spent nearly six years in a youth shelter in Manhattan; 1839 was released from prison, but was soon put back in prison, this time in Auburn State Prison in new york.
The life and adventure of a haunted prisoner, the earliest known prison memoir, was recently discovered and certified by an African-American writer, revealing the long-term relationship between race and imprisonment in the United States.
Mel never denied his guilt. But he was shocked by the conditions in the refuge, especially in Auburn, which is an early example of the so-called "silent" detention mode, which will become the foundation of the modern prison system. Prisoners work during the day and are often locked in a small cell alone at night. In Reid's time, the slightest violation was flogging or "showering" (an early form of waterboarding). Reed sighed: "The lofty thoughts that God gave me were destroyed by a heavy stick and a difficult means." . His narrative ends with 1858, and he dropped out of Auburn. "The biggest question is what we are reading," said Keller Smith, a professor of literature at Yale University, one of the three experts invited by Beinecke to evaluate the manuscript. "Is it a novel? Is it a memoir?
As an expert in prison literature, Smith is convinced that this book was written by someone who had first-hand knowledge of prison facilities in19th century. If the haunted prisoner is a true story, it will be a breakthrough story: the earliest story was written by an African-American prisoner. And it was unearthed in a favorable period. Across the country, criticism of the expensive and crowded prison system is increasing day by day, and anger against the incarceration rate is soaring, especially against young blacks.
Smith set out to verify the manuscript, which was sold to Benec through a rare bookseller. He bought it at a real estate auction. In the New York State Archives, Smith found the refuge file of an arsonist named Austin Reed. There were two handwritten letters attached to the letter, which he recognized at a glance. With the help of Christine McKay, who was then a genealogist at the Schomburg Black Culture Research Center, Smith consulted the census documents of19th century. Austin Reid, born around 1823, is classified as a "hybrid"; His mother is a laundryman; Father died when he was young; He has brothers and sisters. All this was arranged, and the subsequent tests of the paper and ink age confirmed the authenticity of these documents.
This month, Random House will publish a book "The Haunted Prisoner", most of which are preserved in Reed's works. Smith wrote a preface to the book. He teaches prisoner literature at Cheshire Correctional Institution in Connecticut and shares manuscripts with students there. Smith said that they realized that "the early roots of racist police and imprisonment continued until 2 1 century". "They agree with Reid's anger and that he wants to tell the truth about power and show the world what is happening behind the prison walls."
Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine for only 12 dollars. This report is selected from the 65,438+0-February issue of Smithsonian magazine.
buy