In 1857, a woman escaped enslavement on a North Carolina plantation and fled to a farm in New York. In hiding, she worked on a manuscript that would make her famous long after her death. The novel, The Bondwoman’s Narrative, was first published in 2002 to great acclaim, but the author’s identity remained unknown.
Over a decade later, Professor Gregg Hecimovich unraveled the mystery of the author’s name and, in his book The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts, he finally tells her life story. In this talk, Dr. Hecimovich will trace his journey of discovery to uncover the multi-generational story of America’s first Black woman novelist.
Gregg Hecimovich is professor of English at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina and a Non-Resident Fellow of the Hutchins Center at Harvard University. He received his PhD in English from Vanderbilt University and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and elsewhere.
The Casey-McIlvane Memorial Lecture series was established in 1997 by Roseanne McIlvane Casey, G’79, and Nancy McIlvane Del Genio, F’82, in memory of Francis L. Casey, Jr., C’50, L’53, and in honor of the Reverend Donald W. McIlvane, F’46. The McIlvane fund supports an annual lecture reflecting the academic disciplines currently taught at Georgetown and the mission of the Society of Jesus.
Contact ks1810@georetown.edu for more infomation as needed.