Lucy Terry

Lucy Terry Prince (often credited as simply Lucy Terry; c. 1733 – 1821) was an American settler and poet. Kidnapped in Africa and enslaved, she was taken to the British colony of Rhode Island. Her future husband purchased her freedom before their marriage in 1756. She composed a ballad poem, "Bars Fight", about a 1746 incident in which two white families were attacked by Native Americans. It was preserved orally until it was published in 1854. It is considered the oldest known work of literature by an African American. Quotes Eunice Allen see the Indians comeing And hoped to save herself by running And had not her petticoats stopt her The awful creatures had not cotched her Nor tommyhawked her on her head And left her on the ground for dead. "Bars Fight", l. 21. Lorenzo J. Greene (ed.) The Negro in Colonial New England, 1620–1776 (1942), p. 243 Written some time after an attack upon two white families by Native Americans on August 21, 1746. Preserved orally by the townsfolk of Deerfield, Massachusetts. First published, with modernized orthography, in The Springfield Daily Republican (November 20, 1854) External links Category:1730s births Category:1821 deaths Category:19th-century poets from the United States Category:Women authors from the United States Category:Women born before the 19th century Category:African Americans