author
Jacob Stroyer
1849–1908
Born into slavery in South Carolina, he later became a minister in Massachusetts and turned his memories into a vivid firsthand account of enslaved life. His memoir, My Life in the South, remains valued for its clear, personal view of bondage, emancipation, and the years that followed.
1 Audiobook
My Life In The South
by Jacob Stroyer
About the author
Born in South Carolina in 1849, Jacob Stroyer spent his childhood in slavery on the Singleton plantation near Columbia. After emancipation, he moved north and built a new life in Massachusetts, eventually becoming a preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
He is best known for My Life in the South, first published in 1879 and later expanded in later editions. The book draws on his own experiences to describe family life, labor, punishment, religion, and survival under slavery, making it an important firsthand narrative of the antebellum South.
Stroyer also served for many years as a minister in Salem, where he became a respected local figure. He died on February 7, 1908, but his writing continues to be read as both a personal story and a valuable historical record.