Josiah Henson

Author, abolitionist, minister

• Born: June 5, 1789
• Birthplace: Charles County, Maryland
• Died: May 5, 1883
• Place of death: Dresden, Ontario, Canada

Significance: A noted escaped slave turned abolitionist, Josiah Henson established the Dawn Settlement in Dresden, Upper Canada. To support this endeavor, he dictated the autobiography The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself, which became the basis of the character Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Background

Josiah Henson was born into slavery on a plantation in Charles County, Maryland, where he remained for the majority of his early life. When he was young, Henson watched his father receive severe punishment for standing up to a slave owner for unjust treatment. Henson’s father received fifty lashes in front of his wife and children, and then had his ear cut off. As further punishment, he was sold off to a slave owner in Alabama, and Henson never saw his father again.

Henson, his mother, and his siblings were sold in an estate sale after the death of their owner. While he later was able to find his mother again, Henson was never able to reunite with his siblings. Henson soon found himself on a plantation in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he matured to adulthood.

Life’s Work

When Henson reported to his master, Isaac Riley, that the plantation’s overseer was stealing from Riley, the overseer was fired and Henson was given the position, overseeing both fellow slaves and white laborers. In this capacity, Henson was able to more than double crop production, according to records.

Eventually, however, Riley began to have financial trouble, and sent a number of slaves, including Henson, to his brother Amos’s plantation in Kentucky in an attempt to manage his debts. While passing through the free state of Ohio, Henson and the others were encouraged to stay there as free individuals rather than go on to a life of slavery in Kentucky. Henson, however, was at the time determined to purchase his freedom rather than running away, and convinced the other slaves to continue to Kentucky with him, a decision that would trouble him for many years afterward.

In 1828, Henson traveled back to Maryland to visit Isaac Riley; while passing through Ohio, he preached at a number of churches and at the annual Methodist Conference, earning a total of $275. With this, he hoped to negotiate a deal with Isaac Riley for his freedom. Riley agreed to give Henson his manumission papers for $450, of which Henson, by selling his horse, was able to pay $350 up front; Henson was then to return to Kentucky to work on Amos Riley’s plantation until he could pay off the remaining $100. While Henson was en route back to Kentucky, however, Riley sent a letter to his brother claiming that the total amount Henson had agreed to pay was $1,000. Furious and betrayed, Henson soon hatched a plan to escape. In the summer of 1830, he escaped with his wife and children north through Ohio and New York, ultimately settling in Dresden in Ontario, Canada.

Upon arrival in Dresden, Henson found quick success. He became a minister and community leader, and frequently traveled with the Underground Railroad back to the United States to help escaped slaves settle in Canada. During this time, Henson also volunteered as a captain in the British military to help quell the Canadian Rebellions of 1837–38 and to raise money for his family.

After his military service, Henson founded the Dawn Settlement, a community for former and escaped slaves. At the crux of the Dawn Settlement was the British American Institute, an industrial school and refugee haven that Henson founded in 1842. To raise money for this endeavor, Henson dictated and sold his autobiography, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself.

Henson became famous shortly after the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It was widely speculated that Henson was the basis for the character Uncle Tom, and Stowe soon freely admitted, in the book The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, that Henson’s story was living proof that characters like Uncle Tom existed in real life, though Stowe was likely also influenced by other slave narratives as well. Stowe and Henson kept up a correspondence, and she prompted Henson to reprint his autobiography and write it by his own hand, which he did do twice. The book was published under the name of Truth Stranger than Fiction. Father Henson’s Story of His Own Life in 1858 and again in 1879 under the name Truth Is Stranger than Fiction: An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson. Both reprints of Henson’s autobiography contained forewords written by Stowe, which brought wide interest to Henson’s books and story and helped him raise money for the Dawn Settlement and the British American Institute.

Impact

In recognition of the power of his narrative and his long list of accomplishments as a preacher and abolitionist, Josiah Henson was featured on a Canadian postage stamp in 1983. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada also recognized Henson as a National Historic Person, honoring him with a commemorative plaque. Henson’s story had a major impact on abolitionism in North America; Abraham Lincoln credited his story, along with that of Uncle Tom, as a catalyst for the beginning of the US Civil War.

Personal Life

Josiah married Nancy Henson when he was twenty-two; they had twelve children, four of whom were born in slavery. After the death of his first wife, he married a widow from Boston. Henson died in Dresden, Ontario, on May 5, 1883.

Bibliography

Fleming, Thomas. "The Real Uncle Tom and the Unknown South He Helped Create." History News Network. History News Network, 3 June 2013. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.

McLaughlin, Moira E. "Josiah Henson, Who Was a Slave in Maryland, Inspired the Famous Novel ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’" Washington Post. Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2012. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.

"The Search for Josiah Henson." Time Team America. PBS, n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.

Waggoner, Cassandra. "Henson, Josiah (1789–1883)." BlackPast.org. BlackPast.org, n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.

Williamson, Jenn. "Josiah Henson, 1789–1883." Documenting the American South. U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.