Throughout history, letters and diaries have been important media for recording social and political history. Written primarily to record a writer's personal feelings, activities, reflections, and observations, these documents generally demonstrate a candid honesty and openness not found in writings created for publication. Examples include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham" (written on scraps of paper provided to King by the jail's black trustees) and The Diary of Anne Frank.
Jefferson's diary is his legacy. Having no land, property, children, or material wealth to leave behind, his diary is the single testament to his life. By recording his thoughts and feelings as he awaits execution, Jefferson, in effect, writes himself into history. His diary is a primary source historical document that provides a personal account of his life as a young black man growing up on a Southern plantation and now as an inmate on Louisiana's death row. Since it records his story in his own voice, Jefferson's diary can be likened to the early slave narratives, stories written by former enslaved Africans who recounted their harrowing experiences. Examples of slave narratives include Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
