Josiah Henson Escapes Slavery

People

Josiah Henson (subject); Charlotte Henson (wife); Francis Newman (enslaver); Isaac Riley (enslaver); Amos Riley (enslaver); Harriet Beecher Stowe (author); Queen Victoria (dignitary)

Outcome

Henson and his family successfully escaped slavery and reached freedom in Upper Canada; Henson established the Dawn Settlement, published his autobiography in 1849, inspired Uncle Tom's Cabin, and became the first Black person on a Canadian postage stamp in 1983

On October 28, 1830, Josiah Henson escaped from slavery in Davies County, Kentucky, with his wife Charlotte and their four young children. Henson had been born into slavery on June 15, 1789, on the farm of Francis Newman in Charles County, Maryland. As a child, he witnessed his father receive 100 lashes and have his ear severed as punishment for defending his mother against an overseer's assault; his father was then sold south, and Henson never saw him again. Sold multiple times during his youth, Henson eventually became the trusted overseer on the farm of Isaac Riley in Montgomery County, Maryland. In 1825, Riley transferred Henson and other enslaved people to the plantation of his brother, Amos Riley, in Davies County, Kentucky. Henson became a preacher and was promised his freedom by Isaac Riley for the sum of $450. Henson raised the money through his preaching, but when he presented the funds, Riley altered the manumission papers to read $1,000, effectively swindling him. When Henson learned he was about to be sold further south to New Orleans, he resolved to flee. On the night of October 28, 1830, Henson and his family set out on foot from Kentucky, traveling north through Indiana. Along the way they received critical assistance from Native Americans and members of the Underground Railroad. After weeks of arduous travel, the family crossed the Niagara River by boat into Upper Canada (present-day Ontario), where they were finally free. In Canada, Henson helped establish the Dawn Settlement near Dresden, Ontario, a self-sustaining community for formerly enslaved people that included the British American Institute, a school for Black refugees from the United States. Henson published his autobiography, "The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada," in 1849. Harriet Beecher Stowe later credited Henson's narrative as a key inspiration for her landmark novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852), which galvanized antislavery sentiment across the North and internationally. Henson was received by Queen Victoria and other British dignitaries, and he returned to the United States multiple times to help other enslaved people escape to freedom. The Dawn Settlement eventually closed in 1868. Henson died on May 5, 1883, in Dresden, Ontario. In 1983, he became the first Black person to appear on a Canadian postage stamp, and the Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site in Dresden preserves his legacy today.