henson, josiah

Shares the life of Josiah Henson, the slave who walked over 3,000 miles to become free, who saved 118 enslaved people, started a freeman settlement, and was a hero during the Civil War era.

Josiah Henson and his family risked starvation, exposure, and recapture and walked from Kentucky to Ohio. Native Americans assisted the struggling family, as did sympathetic boatmen who ferried them safely across Lake Erie. Once in Ontario, Canada, Henson took an active role in organizing a self-sufficient community. His story helped alert his contemporaries to the horrors and heartbreak of slavery. His story was originally published in 1849.

A biography of the former slave who after escaping to Canada with his family became a well-known minister and active power in the Underground Railroad and served as model for Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous book.