author

Venture Smith

d. 1805

Kidnapped from West Africa as a child and sold into slavery in colonial New England, he later bought his freedom and dictated one of the earliest known autobiographical narratives by an African in America. His life story is remembered for its stark honesty, endurance, and determination.

1 Audiobook

A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa, but Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America, Related by Himself

A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa, but Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America, Related by Himself

by Venture Smith

About the author

Born in West Africa around 1729, Venture Smith was taken captive as a boy and forced through the Atlantic slave trade to New England. He was enslaved for many years before eventually purchasing his freedom, building a life as a farmer, laborer, and businessman in Connecticut.

He is best known for A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa, published in 1798. The book is an unusually early first-person account by an African-born man who survived slavery in North America, and it remains an important document of both African American and American literary history.

Smith died in 1805, but his story continues to be read for its vivid memories of Africa, enslavement, family life, and hard-won independence. What makes his voice especially powerful is how direct it feels: practical, observant, and shaped by a lifelong refusal to let cruelty define him.