Sasha's Reviews > The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada

The guy who would inspire Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom opens his own story with a memory of his father's ear being cut off. Immediately, then, we're shown a world Stowe shied away from. There's no violence on that level in her book.

It ends with another story she chose not to tell. Josiah Henson escaped to Canada, where he was a key player in the Dawn Settlement, a town made up entirely of former slaves and planned largely by Henson, who was also instrumental in starting a trade school there. The settlement was a success, in no small part thanks to his leadership. He was a major figure in the abolition movement, and his identity as "the real Uncle Tom" (a label under which he toured lucratively) is one of the least important things about him. (Only the beginning of the story is covered in this narrative; the rest I know from the terrific nonfiction book Bound For Canaan.)

In between, there's a disturbing episode: Henson, trusted by his owner, is delegated to transport 21 slaves from Maryland to Kentucky. Along the way they float right past Ohio, where free people on the shores mention that all they have to do is land there and they'll be free; Henson refuses, consigning all of them to further slavery. This seems unforgiveably Uncle Tom-ish today, but it's also an interesting look into the psyche of some (though not all) slaves.

As literature, Henson's narrative is pedestrian. Dictated to someone of indifferent skill, it presents the facts in a stilted style. This is no Frederick Douglass. But it's interesting, and it'll only take you like an hour anyway.

I created an e-reader version of it myself, because I couldn't find a decent one online. I put it on Google Drive; here it is. You can freely use and distribute it as far as I'm concerned. It's in the public domain.