English professor Susanna Ashton will give a talk on her latest project, the newly republished book “28 Years a Slave, Or, The Story of My Life on Three Continents,” by Thomas Lewis Johnson, on Tuesday, November 17, at 3 p.m. in the Cooper Library Brynes Room (room 402). Click here to register to attend.
First published in 1909, the book has been republished by Clemson University Press with an 
introduction and annotations by Ashton. Born enslaved in Virginia, Thomas Lewis Johnson survived 28 years of captivity before forging an improbable life that carried him across North America, Great Britain and West Africa. Largely forgotten since its original publication, Johnson’s memoir is at once a slave narrative, a missionary autobiography, a travel account, and a stunning scrapbook of a life lived in motion.
Ashton is a professor of English at Clemson University and the author of “A Plausible Man: The TrueStory of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (The New Press, 2024). Her research has been supported by fellowships from Harvard and Yale and featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and other global media.
Ashton’s talk is free and open to the public.