Hannah Crafts, Author of Earliest Known Novel Written by an African American Woman, to be Featured on N.C. Highway Historical Marker

The author of the earliest known novel by an African American woman soon will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker. The N.C. Historical Marker Program is part of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The marker commemorating the life and accomplishments of Hannah Crafts will be unveiled Saturday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m., at the corner of Main and 4th streets in Murfreesboro, N.C.

Hannah Bond lived on the plantation of John Hill Wheeler in Murfreesboro, before escaping and writing the semi-autobiographical novel, "A Bondwoman's Narrative," under the pen name Hannah Crafts. Written between 1855 and 1861, the novel describes life in the antebellum south as an enslaved person. Her writing style is unique among the known slave accounts, drawing influences from Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" (1853), Walter Scott's "Rob Roy" (1817), and Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" (1847).

The unpublished novel was discovered when it was purchased at an auction by Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 2001. Published in 2002, it became a New York Times bestseller.

Bond was likely born around 1830 and raised in Virginia. She lived with numerous slave owners, but sufficient evidence is not available about her every stop. She was taught how to read and write by an elderly white couple that lived on one of the plantations where she was enslaved.

Bond's last stop as an enslaved person was with John Hill Wheeler, a plantation owner, congressman, and writer himself. Wheeler bought her as a house slave to assist his wife, Ellen Wheeler, in errands and other personal duties. Bond traveled to Washington, D.C., and Wilmington with Wheeler when his wife traveled with him. Wheeler's plantation library is likely the source of the majority of books she mimicked in her writing style, according to historians.

Bond successfully escaped from the Wheeler's Murfreesboro plantation in early May 1857. She disguised herself as a man, assisted by John Hill Wheeler's nephew, John Wheeler, who gave her men's clothing. Using the Underground Railroad, she journeyed to central New York, taking refuge on the farm of the Craft family, from whom she likely took her pseudonym. She went on to move to New Jersey, where she became a school teacher and married a minister. She died in 1905.

For more information about the historical marker, please visit https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2026/01/14/hannah-crafts-ca-1830-1905-98, or call (919) 814-6625.

The Highway Historical Marker Program is a collaboration between the N.C. departments of Natural and Cultural Resources and Transportation.

About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) manages, promotes, and enhances the things that people love about North Carolina - its diverse arts and culture, rich history, and spectacular natural areas. At more than 100 sites across the state, the department enhances education, stimulates economic development, improves public health, expands accessibility, and strengthens community resiliency. For more information, please visit www.dncr.nc.gov.

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