Biography
Born: 1732
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As an infant Terry was kidnapped in Africa and sold into slavery in Rhode Island. By the age of five Captain Ebenezer Wells, who resided in Deerfield, Massachusetts, was officially named her owner. The Wells were childless, and Lucy may have been more integrated into their household than most "servants for life," as New Englanders preferred to call their slaves. According to records found Lucy was baptized in 1735 and became a church member nine years later. In the year of 1746 Lucy Terry was around sixteen years old when there was an Indian attack of two white families by Native Americans in a section of town known as “The Bars”. By this time, her reputation as a storyteller had skyrocketed, and to no surprise she composed the first known work of African American literature (the poem “Bars Fight”) in reference to the ambush. The poem was preserved orally until it was finally published in 1855.
In 1750, Terry met a man who was to be her future husband. Abijah Prince served in the Massachusetts Bay militia and was a landowner. He was rumored of buying Lucy Terry's freedom, and he married her in 1756. They conceived six children between 1757 and 1769, all of whom possesses some type of musical or poetic ability. The family left Deerfield to live on their own land in Guilford, Vermont. Due to the death of Abijah in 1794, the family struggled to keep their land and assets. When Lucy passed away at age 97 she was known as a legend, the first black poet in North America.
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