Episode 265: Hannah Crafts: The First Black Woman To Write a Novel

Hopeton Hay Podcasts

Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Amanda Moore interviewed Dr. Gregg Hecimovich, a Hutchins Family Fellow at Harvard University and professor of English at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. His new book, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANNAH CRAFTS: The True Story of the Bondwoman's Narrative, explores how Hannah Crafts escaped enslavement, and became a gifted writer who wrote about the inconceivable reality of her life and others who were victims of an oppressive society in the American South years before the Civil War. Considered to be the first Black woman to compose a novel, Hannah Crafts wrote a story that depicted the lives of enslaved people and the many struggles they encountered in their everyday lives.
You can learn more about Dr. Hecimovich at http://www.furman.edu and follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @gregghecimovich.