Black Beauty
Anna Sewell (1877)
“A horse tells his own story — and in doing so, Anna Sewell wrote the founding document of the animal welfare movement.”
Short Summary
Black Beauty is a thoroughbred horse who narrates his own life story — from a happy foalhood on an English farm, through years of kind and brutal owners alike, to eventual rescue and a peaceful retirement. Along the way, Sewell uses the horse's first-person voice to indict cab-driving cruelty, bearing reins that force horses into painful postures, the class indifference that lets animals suffer, and the human capacity for both great kindness and casual brutality. Published in 1877, the novel was the best-selling book of the nineteenth century and directly inspired British and American animal welfare legislation.
Detailed Summary
Black Beauty opens in pastoral Birtwick Park, where a young black colt is raised by his wise mother Duchess, who teaches him to be gentle, hardworking, and patient. His first owner, Squire Gordon, is kind and humane. Beauty befriends Ginger, a chestnut mare broken by harsh treatment, and Merrylegs, ...