51 pages 1 hour read

Hannah Crafts, Henry Louis Gates Jr., ed.

The Bondwoman's Narrative

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Character Analysis

Hannah Crafts

Hannah Crafts is both the protagonist and author of the text. The Bondwoman’s Narrative is her autobiography, lost for more than a century and then published after the turn of the millennium. Crafts is an escaped female African American slave, who was born and raised in slavery before fleeing from the south to the north.

Due to the complicated publication history of The Bondwoman’s Narrative, the lengthy introduction to the text adds further complexity to the character of Hannah Crafts. As Gates explains, she was likely a real person, and the elements of her autobiography which can be verified indicate that there is a great deal of truth to the book. This revelation makes Hannah’s story all the more powerful; not only did she undertake all of the journeys she describes in the text, she overcame the huge barriers to writing a novel which existed for African American women, particularly those who were former slaves.

The search for the real Hannah Crafts as related by Gates demonstrates the danger she encountered. Trying to track down her name is a difficult task and a damning indictment of the institution of slavery. While in the south, for example, trying to track down a slave by their name is complicated by the poor record-keeping.