Josiah Henson, the Moses of His People

One of the most interesting and colourful characters among the Negro slaves who escaped to Canada by means of the Underground Railroad was Josiah Henson, who is generally accepted as the original of the character of Uncle Tom of Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous novel. Henson became a kind of Negro Moses and led his people to found, for a time, a very prosperous settlement outside the present City of Chatham, Ontario, Can, ada. Before the days of the American Civil War Chatham was the Northern terminus of the Underground Railroad and many an escaped slave there found a safe haven of refuge. The town was just sufficiently distant' from the American border to offer the Negro freedom from further persecution or molestation and a chance to establish himself as an independent free citizen. What freedom meant to the wretched slaves of the South who were fortunate enough to escape to Canada is well exemplified by Josiah Henson,2 who describes his feelings in his own very vivid language

Sociology · Canadian Identity and History · History

• Forgotten Souls of the Dawn Settlement

  Open Access•William T D Wadsworth, Carl‐Georg Bank et al.•Historical Archaeology•2020

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