Josiah Henson ()
Josiah Henson was born into slavery on June 15, in Charles County, Maryland. As a young boy he witnessed slavery’s cruelties inflicted on his immediate family. Young Henson watched his father receive fifty lashes for standing up to a slave owner and then witnessed his father’s ear being severed as part of the punishment. Shortly afterwards he watched his father sold off to an Alabama slaveholder. Upon the death of his owner, Henson was separated from his mother and siblings in an estate sale. Although he was reunited with his mother, he never saw his siblings again.
Henson remained on his new owner’s farm in Montgomery County, Maryland, until he was an adult. As he aged he rose to become a trusted slave and supervised other enslaved people on the farm. However, he used his new position to make his escape from slavery. Following the Underground Railroad, Henson escaped from Maryland to the Province of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario), Canada with his wife and four children by way of the Niagara River in
Josiah Henson worked on farms near Fort Erie and Waterloo, in his first years in Canada to support his family. Then four years later in he moved w
Henson, Josiah
Abolitionist, minister, writer
During the period of slavery in the United States and afterward in the ongoing struggle for equality and opportunity for people of African descent, Josiah Henson was a man who lived his conviction of being honest in both word and deed. Even while a slave and enduring violence, when given the choice of defiling his word or gaining freedom, Henson kept his word. When Harriet Beecher Stowe read The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself (), she was determined to meet Henson. They met in and Henson's life became the basis for the character Uncle Tom in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. After escaping from slavery and finding freedom in Canada, Henson learned to read and write and became a religious and community leader both there and in the United States. He traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and England, preaching and speaking for the abolition of slavery. He became a conductor of the Underground Railroad and had an audience with Queen Victoria. In all, Henson was a man of integrity and determination whose life far exceeded the limits that society had placed on him.
Josiah Henson () was born into slavery in Charles County, Maryland, on a farm owned by Francis Newman. As a child, he was sold to Isaac Riley, who later appointed him superintendent of the farm at an unusually young age because of Henson's strength and intelligence. At age twenty-two Henson married a slave woman whose name remains unknown. They had twelve children, four while enslaved. Henson showed extreme loyalty to Riley who, in turn, entrusted him with exceptional responsibilities and allowed him to become a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. However, when Henson attempted to buy his freedom, Riley cheated him and made plans to sell him south. Fearing separation from his family, Henson fled north with his wife and children the summer of After passing through Ohio and New York, they settled in Dresden, Ontario, Canada. Henson became a preacher and a leader in the Afro-Canadian community, and he traveled back into the United States to help other slaves escape. Henson also served the British as a captain of Afro-Canadian volunteers in the Canadian Rebellions of , two uprisings in which the colonies of Lower and Upper Canada were in conflict over political reform. He f
The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave,
Now an Inhabitant of Canada,
as Narrated by Himself:
Electronic Edition.
Henson, Josiah,
Funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation
supported the electronic publication of this title.
Text transcribed by Apex Data Services, Inc.
Images scanned by Malissa Graham
Text encoded by Lee Ann Morawski and Natalia Smith
First edition,
ca. K
Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
Source Description:
(title page) The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself
Henson, Josiah
iv, 76 p., ill.
BOSTON:
ARTHUR D. PHELPS.
Call number E Pam HL (Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University Libraries)
&#;&#;&#;&#;&#;&#;&#;&#;The electronic edition is a part of the UNC-CH digitization project, Documenting the American South.
&#;&#;&#;&#;&#;&#;&#;&#;The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 4 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.
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