Narrative of the Life of J.D. Green, a Runaway Slave, from Kentucky / Containing an Account of His Three Escapes, in 1839, 1846, and 1848

A former slave recounts life from childhood into adulthood, describing early domestic labor, the sale and separation of family members, a near-fatal childhood accident, and religious instruction used to rationalize bondage. He documents daily humiliations, unequal treatment compared with white children, corporal punishment, and multiple attempts to escape captivity. The account combines vivid episodes of abuse and flight with frank reflections on faith, identity, and the moral contradictions of slaveholding society, and closes by describing his subsequent efforts to speak publicly about the experience of enslavement.