Fifty Years in Chains: Or, the Life of an American Slave (1859) was an abridged and unauthorised reprint of the earlier Slavery in the United States (1836). In the narratives, Ball describes his experiences as a slave, including the uncertainty of slave life and the ways in which the slaves are forced to suffer inhumane conditions. He recounts the qualities of his various masters and the ways in which his fortune depended on their temperament. As slave narrative scholar William L. Andrews has noted, Ball's oft-repeated narrative directly influenced the manner and matter of later fugitive slave narratives.
- ISBN10 0342059971
- ISBN13 9780342059973
- Publish Date 10 October 2018 (first published 31 December 1970)
- Publish Status Unknown
- Imprint Franklin Classics
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 434
- Language English