As a slave, Smith was sold over thirty times due to his size and unwillingness to cooperate with his slavemasters.
With the help of his family, it was printed by The Bee in New London, Connecticut.
It was suspected that the editor, who was white, manipulated Smith’s story, a common practice among editors of slave narratives.
After four conferences and numerous scholarly papers, it was the conclusion of many scholars and the “Documenting Venture Smith Project” that the narrative was entirely Venture Smith’s own words.
Venture Smith died in 1805.
