story of a black West Indian slave.

Mary Prince, was the first black Bermudian-born female to record the history of her enslavement and her life after being freed.

More than 100 Bermudians came to the Kenneth Ellsworth Robinson Memorial Lecture at Berkeley Institute last Friday to hear about the trials and tribulations she endured.

The guest speaker was Dr. Moira Ferguson, holder of the James E. Ryan Chair in English in Women's Literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She delivered the lecture entitled "The Voice of Freedom: Mary Prince''.

Dr. Ferguson is the editor of "The History of Mary Prince A West Indian Slave - Related by Herself''.

She discussed how Mary Prince, who was born in 1788, was the first black British woman to escape from slavery and publish a record of her experiences.

"The history of Mary Prince was published in London and Edinburgh in 1831 had proved to be so popular that it had gone into a third edition by the end of the year,'' Dr. Ferguson said.

"Its message made a pointed contribution to the fierce agitation that already stamped the early years of that decade.'' Mary Prince's life story begins: "I was born at Brackish-Pond, in Bermuda, on a farm belonging to Mr. Charles Myners.

"My mother was a household slave; and my father whose name was Prince, was a sawyer belonging to Mr. Trimingham, a ship builder at Crow Lane.'' She continues to discuss her experiences in Bermuda as a slave, witnessing the murders of other slaves, and suffering continuous beatings.

Dr. Ferguson added that within the story Mary Prince "vividly recalls her life as a slave in Bermuda, Turks Island, and Antigua, her rebellion against psychological degradation, and her eventual escape in London in 1828''.

"Never before had the sufferings and the indignities of enslavement been seen through the eyes of a woman -- a woman struggling for freedom in the face of great odds.'' Dr. Ferguson said the book was unique among all accounts of other black slaves.

"Mary Prince was compelled to suppress her venting rage in order to survive,'' she said.

Concerning a recently scrapped tourist publication, Dr. Ferguson said she was unaware there was a belief that slavery was benign in Bermuda. She added that the book proved that was not so.

She also said that a movie portraying the life of Mary Prince would be shown on the British Broadcasting Corporation on May 5.