Mary Prince and Sally Hemings

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To mark the 400 years since the arrival of African slaves to America, Jamaican-born author Anne Bailey reflects on two remarkable women pertinent to this commemoration and discusses how they have influenced her journey as a Black female historian. Mary Prince, a West Indian slave who after enduring incredible hardships at the hands of several masters obtained her freedom and wrote an abolitionist narrative that was published in Britain. And Sally Hemings - the enigmatic enslaved mistress of Thomas Jefferson who never officially received her freedom and who never wrote her own story, yet as a historical figure looms large in history and in memory. Anne Bailey reflects on how each of them represented freedom in their own way. Producer Neil McCarthy