Born into slavery on a Maryland farm; Josiah Henson (1789–1883) worked as a foreman; married; and became a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Faced with the prospect of separation from his family; Henson fled with his wife and children to Ontario; where he became a leader in the Afro-Canadian community. The Life of Josiah Henson; Formerly a Slave; Now an Inhabitant of Canada; as Narrated by Himself first appeared in 1849. The book's avid readers included Harriet Beecher Stowe; who later acknowledged its influence on her own masterwork; Uncle Tom's Cabin.Henson's narrative recounts the circumstances of his bondage; his conversion to Christianity; and his fruitless attempts to buy his freedom. Risking starvation; exposure; and recapture; the Henson family walked from Kentucky to Ohio. Native Americans assisted the struggling family; as did sympathetic boatmen who ferried them across Lake Erie. Safely established as a tenant farmer and clergyman in a new country; Henson took an active role in organizing a self-sufficient community. His memoirs helped alert his contemporaries to the horrors and heartbreak of slavery; and they offer modern readers an authentic account of one family's triumph over injustice and inhumanity.
#1807468 in Books 2004-06-18 2004-06-18Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.46 x .76 x 5.36l; .84 #File Name: 0486435431368 pagesAbraham LincolnStephen DouglasHistoryspeeches
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