Black slavery in the United States remains a smudge on
that country’s history, polarizing and almost imploding the nation. After the
passing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Slavery itself may have been
officially eradicated, but that in no way meant there was any sense of equality.
In fact, many might argue today that the struggle for equality continues.
Runaway Train
During the decades leading up to the bloodiest war ever
experienced by America, a movement led by northern blacks, Quakers, various
missionaries, and their supporters, developed a comprehensive network of guides
and safe houses to assist slaves in escaping their brutal conditions. Known as
the Underground Railroad, its storied history dates back to before the Founding
Fathers united the colonies, but are most chronicled during its rescue work in
the 19th Century. It was not an actual railroad, nor used trains,
but rather gained its moniker due to its use of railroad terminology as code
when communicating among its network.
In essence, runaway slaves needed to escape to a haven
wherein the state laws that treated slaves as chattel and granted white slave masters
impunity in all dealings with their property, had no force. Many runaway slaves
resettled in abolitionist northern states, while some made their way into Upper
Canada, all with the logistical planning and integrated systems operated by the
Underground Railroad.
Things heated up and became more dangerous for the Underground
Railroad and its passengers (railroad terminology to describe runaway slaves) when
the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, allowing bounty
hunters to cross state lines to pursue, capture, and return to owners, runaway
slaves. That enactment made the Canadas the most preferred destination for
runaway slaves, placing them out of harm’s way of their pursuers.
The Underground Railroad became almost entirely
responsible for populating Upper and Lower Canada with a black presence in its
day. Even now, family trees can trace ancestral roots to those who found their
way north of the 49th parallel to freedom on the Underground
Railroad.
A Slave Like All
the Others, Yet Unlike Any Other
Josiah Henson was born into slavery in Maryland on June
15, 1789, on a 3700 acre tobacco plantation and lived a typical slave existence
just like the 10 million black indentured servants in America who did so before
him.
As was the custom of the day, slave families were
routinely split up and sold off by their controlling masters. Henson’s family
would not escape this reality, but his mother begged slave master Isaac Riley who had
just purchased her (by this time it was in the early 1790’s), to keep Josiah,
the youngest child, with her. She must have been very convincing because Riley
bought Henson from the successful auction bidder to whom Josiah was sold.
Unable to read or write, Josiah’s illiteracy would not
stand in the way of his learning. He was a keen observer and listened intently
as others spoke, regardless of the subject matter. As his knowledge base
increased, so too did Josiah’s gift of oration. He exuded confidence and wisdom
beyond his years, often quoting the Bible, which led to him becoming the de
facto preacher among his fellow slaves on the Riley plantation.
While fellow slaves looked to Henson as their spiritual leader,
Riley began to depend on Josiah with more tasks and duties. He started out
carrying buckets of water to the field hands and weeding between the corn rows.
As Josiah aged, he would faithfully serve his master by taking care of horses
and eventually became another field hand, and then promoted to superintendent and
overseer of the field slaves.
Through it all, Henson developed a sphere of influence he
would later parlay into becoming Reverend Josiah Henson. For now, he was the
go-to person on the plantation, a role in which he both relished and excelled. Riley
would learn the value of his purchase of Josiah, as Henson was to become a most
reliable slave, hardworking and loyal.
To some extent history looks upon Josiah Henson in an
unfavorable light because of this loyalty. There is a documented case when
Josiah was entrusted to transport fellow slaves down south from the Riley
plantation in Maryland unescorted. There would have been ample opportunity for
Henson and his cargo to escape, but true to his word, Josiah delivered the slaves
to their intended destination, and returned, again unescorted, to Riley.
As slavery and slave masters go, Riley certainly wasn’t
the cruelest to their property and would have been seen as fairly lenient by
his contemporaries. With plantation slaves frequently interacting with their
neighbors beholden to another master, it is inevitable comparisons were made
and conclusions shared.
As William Still would document in his book, The Underground Railroad Records, published
in 1872, many escaping slaves using the network recounted that they left
families behind just so that one or a handful had a real opportunity for
freedom. For they and their families, the sacrifices made and felt were the
only hope for the future.
By now a family man, Henson’s loyalty to Riley in this
particular instance may have had more to do with not wanting to leave his wife
and children behind than any true sense of obligation to his master. Many
slaves had no intention of escaping unless the entire family could make the perilous
journey together. For these, they were willing to endure continued untold
cruelties for the sake of remaining as a family unit. Given that the Hensons
escaped together as a family, it would be more apt to conclude that this was
the pivotal consideration for Josiah as he marshalled those slaves southward to
an unknown future.
In 1824, slave master Riley fell on hard economic times,
largely due to a protracted lawsuit with his brother-in-law and was on the
verge of ruin. His only remaining assets were his slaves. Throughout his
ownership of Josiah, Riley would often confide in him, but the tone this time
was desperate, master shedding tears in front of the slave he reluctantly
purchased.
With the sheriff about to seize the slaves to satisfy
judgements, Riley had Josiah make him a solemn promise to take the 21 slaves to
his brother’s farm in Kentucky. That journey would begin in February, 1825.
True to his pledge, Josiah delivered himself and 21 slaves to the farm of Amos
Riley in Daviess County, Kentucky, in mid-April.
By the spring of 1828, Isaac Riley sent word that he
would not be relocating to Kentucky and had his brother Amos sell off all his
slaves except Josiah and his family (Josiah, his wife, and two children).
During that year, Josiah’s gifts of oration and
leadership were recognized by a Methodist minister who helped secure occasional
leave from Amos Riley for Josiah to preach on a circuit, including in
Cincinnati, where he could earn money to purchase freedom for he and his
family.
By 1829, Josiah earned enough to purchase his freedom but
the transaction would be imperiled due to Isaac Riley fraudulently altering the
bill of sale, claiming more than a thousand dollars still owing on the
transaction. In mid-1829, the Riley brothers conspired to sell Josiah while he
was in New Orleans offloading farm crops from Amos’s barge. They were
unsuccessful in their attempt, however, the seeds of distrust were sown and
Josiah knew he and his family were to be not long together under the present
circumstances.
Now back in Kentucky, Josiah devised a plan of escape,
doing so with his family via The Underground Railroad in 1830, making his way eventually
to Upper Canada.
Thriving North of
the 49
Josiah Henson, his wife Charlotte, and his two young
children arrived in Upper Canada (now Ontario) on October 28, 1830.
Finding work and shelter the next day from a man called
Mr. Hibbard, Josiah’s labor work ethic and productivity would not go unnoticed,
finding himself favored by his employer.
One of his Maryland acquaintances arrived in Upper Canada
and would proudly tell the entire neighborhood of this preacher, Josiah Henson, something Henson himself did not pursue at
this time. Before long though, Josiah found himself at the pulpit preaching the
gospel to a congregation of blacks and whites.
He remained with Hibbard for three years, all the while
improving his wealth and acquiring pigs, a horse, and a cow, changing jobs to
work for Mr. Riseley, only a few miles away. It was here that thoughts of
establishing a slave refuge and religious settlement became serious conversation.
Josiah was stoked!
Those embryos of salvation would come to fruition with
the founding of The Dawn Settlement, near present day Dresden, Ontario,
becoming a prominent destination for escaping slaves on the Underground
Railroad and offering a fresh start for those who suffered at the hands of
entitled brutes.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Of those who read Henson’s first autobiography The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave,
Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself, was Connecticut school
teacher, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Already an active abolitionist, Beecher Stowe was
so awestruck by what she read that she would base the title character of Uncle
Tom almost entirely on the real life Josiah Henson, with the publishing of her
novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among
the Lowly in 1852 (the novel was originally published as a 45 part weekly newspaper
serial beginning 1851).
An instant best seller, Uncle Tom’s Cabin catapulted Harriet
Beecher Stowe to worldwide fame, and would sell more than 300,000 copies in the
United States (despite being banned in much of the South) and over one million copies
in Great Britain within its first year of release. So profound were the sales numbers of Uncle
Tom’s Cabin that it became the best-selling novel of the 19th
Century, and the second biggest selling book in that century, outdone only by
the Bible.
It has been, and continues to be, argued that Uncle Tom’s
Cabin helped propel America into its Civil War and sowed seeds of revolution
worldwide. While considerable controversy surrounds such claims, there exists
little doubt that the mass appeal that Uncle Tom’s Cabin engendered served to
open the eyes of readers to the plight suffered by black slaves in America, and
turned the court of public opinion against slavery.
Josiah Henson’s place in history was forever enshrined
alongside that of Uncle Tom and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
After the Passing
Josiah Henson died peacefully at the Dawn Settlement on
May 05, 1883, having lived to six weeks shy of his 94th birthday.
By the time of his death, Henson had been influential as
a religious leader, a community shepherd, and an early human rights advocate on
both sides of the 49th parallel. Few before or since have risen to
the levels of piety and obeisance than that of Josiah Henson.
Canadians and Americans continue to learn more about the
contributions of Josiah Henson. In more recent times, the Ontario Heritage Trust
has preserved The Dawn Settlement as a tribute and testament to the
significance of Henson. What started out as a museum in the 1940’s by a local
farmer has evolved into an iconic visitor destination sitting on five of the
original 200 acres of The Dawn Settlement.
In 1983, Canada Post issued its first stamp to feature a
black man. It was a 32 cent stamp (then the cost to mail a regular letter
within Canada) depicting Josiah Henson. See picture below.
In 1999, Josiah Henson was recognized by the Historic
Sites and Monuments Board of Canada as a National Historic Person.
The original Riley home in Montgomery County, Maryland is
now part of the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network
to Freedom program. While the Riley home was never Josiah Henson’s living
accommodations during his younger years, the site is being preserved and
studied precisely because of its formidable and familial connection to Henson.
Links:
Thank You:
A special Thank You to the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill for providing online access to its vast collection of archives,
including those referencing Josiah Henson’s written works used in our research
for this article.
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