Crystal Muoz

HIST 1301
Ms. Chandler
November 19, 2016

A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture Smith

A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, A Narrative of America: But Resident
above Sixty Years in the United States of America was written by Venture Smith himself, and
takes place from around 1729 to 1805. Smiths journey from being captured in his homeland in
Guinea to his time as a slave and to a free man is presented in 3 chapters. Chapter 1 begins with
Smith being captured and being sent and sold in Rhode Island at six years old and chapter 3 ends
with Smith being a sixty-nine year old free man. This narrative shows how Smith became a slave
and eventually a free man, and how he tried to help those who were still slaves.
Smith was captured and separated from his family at the age of six years old. At first, he
didnt have a good relationship with his parents because her mother left the country with her
children and left him with a farmer. However, about a year in working with his new guardian, his
father sent for him, and he returned to his homeland. On my return, I was received both by my
father and mother with great joy and affection, and was once more restored to my paternal
dwelling in peace and happiness. (pg. 8). Once he returned home, he built on his relationship
with his parents, getting to know them and being loved by them. However, his ties with them
were cut after a group of slave traders captured him and other members of the tribe, and he was
sent to Rhode Island while his father was killed and his mother was sold in Barbados, where cash
crops were increasing (Chandler 2016).
In the beginning, Smith worked as a household slave, but was then moved to do outside
work after his master started to trust him. The housework was easier than the field work. While
he was a household slave, he was pretty much employed in the house at carding wool and

other houshold business while in the field he had harder tasks to do, such as Some of these
were to pound four bushels of ears of corn every night in a barrel for the poultry, or be rigorously
punished. At other seasons of the year I had to card wool until a very late hour. These tasks I had
to perform when I was about nine years old. (pg. 15). Not only was the difficultness of the jobs
different in the field and in the house, but the way slaves were treated as well. While working in
the house, he only served one master, but in the field, he had to serve his master and his masters
son. If he did not obey the masters son, then he would be severely punished.
It was not uncommon for saves to try to run away. Smith tried to one away once with a
group of slaves, but turned back after the leader of the group, a man named Heddy, stole their
clothes and left abandoned them. I then thought it might afford some chance for my freedom, or
at least a palliation for my running away, to return Heddy immediately to his master, and inform
him that I was induced to go away by Heddy's address. (pg. 17). Smith and the rest of the slaves
captured Heddy and returned him to his master and blamed him in convincing them to run away.
They avoided punishment, while Heddy was put into custody.
Not many slaves worked for money; many of them were forced to work without pay.
Smith, however, showed his master how loyal he was, and eventually was given a chance to
work for a season to earn money. By doing this, Smith was able to buy his way to freedom,
something that most slaves do not obtain in their lifetime. He was also loyal and hardworking
despite the way he was treated, which many slaves were not.
By writing this narrative, Venture Smith wanted to show people the struggle slaves went
through, and how hard it was to become free, and even if a slave was free, there was even more
struggle of being treated equally to others because defenders of slavery stated that blacks could
not work while being free.. He states that I have suffered by fire, by the injustice of knaves, by
the cruelty and oppression of false hearted friends, and the perfidy of my own countrymen whom
I have assisted and redeemed from bondage (pg. 31). After he finally regained his freedom, he

bought his wife and children, as well as other slaves, making them all free. However, some of the
slaves stole from him, creating money losses for Smith. This happened because he did not have
an education, which slaveholders did not want slaves to have because then they feared the slaves
would rebel against them. (Tindall & Shi 2016, 456). Despite this, he kept buying slaves to free,
which shows the length of his loyalty and self-discipline.
The author does not specify which of his masters treated him wrongly and which helped
him. For example, he calls his masters once by their full name and then simply calls them all
master, making the reader confused as to who he is talking about. This book was written for
slaves and abolitionists to show the unjust way of slavery, and to show other slaves that through
determination and self-discipline, they too can one day be free.
While I did enjoy this book, I wished that the author had included more of the daily lives
of a slave and had gone into some detail of the years instead of giving a broad description of
what happened throughout his life. Despite this, I was able to get a better understanding of how
slaves could be separated from their families, and how cruelly they could be treated by their
masters. This book reminded me of a rags to riches story, and I felt like it could have given a
slave back then hope that they could one day be free. Overall, I liked it, and would recommend it
to others if they are interested in learning more on how unjust the slave system was, and the lives
of free slaves after they become free. I give this book a 4.
Bibliography
Chandler, Kimberly. The Old South and Slavery 1830-1860. Lecture Notes, History 1301
from Houston Academy for International Studies, Houston, November 2016
Smith, Venture. A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, A Narrative of America: But
Resident above Sixty Years In the United States of America. New London: Lee Office, 1798
Shi, David Emory and George Brown Tindall. America: A Narrative History, 10th ed. New York
City: W.W. Norton, 2016.