A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life by Eliza Potter

She then goes to New Orleans but does not leave the ship. Desiring to travel again, Potter leaves for Memphis and accounts how slaves are treated there. Chapter Three: 'America' Īt the beginning of the chapter, Potter tells how she lived with a family in Cincinnati. Potter also notes the differences between how servants are treated in Europe versus America. family in this chapter and records her experiences.

In “England,” Potter reveals the way she is treated as a free black woman during the antebellum era in various parts of the world. Also within the chapter, Potter comments on her ideas of lady hood and the slave trade. During this time, Potter states that she worked as a hairdresser to several different ladies. In the chapter, she details her travels to various cities in Canada, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Washington City, and Paris. She calls this disorganized way of writing “a little harum scarum.” She then begins her story by saying that she grew up in New York and worked in service of people, but always desired to travel. Potter begins her chapter by explaining the nature of her writing style. Why, then, should not the hair-dresser write, as well as the physician and clergyman.' Potter explains that her work as a hairdresser is equally as valuable to other vocations. Also in her preface, Potter compares the importance of her profession as a hairdresser to that of a physician or clergyman: “But no where do hearts betray themselves more unguardedly than in the private boudoir. In Eliza Potter’s preface to her narrative, Potter states the reason for writing her book: “nfluenced by the earnest persuasions of may ladies and gentlemen, I have at last concluded that I might just as well note down a few of my experiences for their amusement as not.” Potter tells her audience that the purpose of her writing is to give her audience the gossip that they had requested from her. Summary The Preface: 'The Author's Appeal' She writes her narrative as a free black woman of mixed race during the antebellum era who travels throughout the United States and Europe. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Įliza Potter, a freeborn woman of mixed race during the antebellum period, chronicles her experience as a hairdresser, the gossip she encounters, and her life experiences both in the United States and Europe in her book, A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life.Įliza Potter’s narrative was published in 1859 prior to the Civil War.

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A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life by Eliza Potter