Author: Brock, Jared
Publisher/ place/ date: New York, NY, PublicAffairs, Hachette Book Group, 2018
Format: Book
Description: 287 pages, illustrations
Access: Go to this book’s record in the Southern Maryland Regional Library Association catalog
Keywords: African American, antebellum, civil war, emancipation, enslaved, enslavement, freedom, fugitive, man, people of color, runaway, underground railroad, clergy, slave, Port Tobacco, Charles County, freeman, enslaved, slavery,
Time Periods:
1783-1800 Founding a New Nation
1800-1828 The Early Nationalist Period
1828-1860 Antebellum America
1860-1877 Civil War and Reconstruction
1877-1896 The Gilded Age
Themes:
African American People and Culture
Diversity in Southern Maryland
People, Places, and our Southern Maryland Environment
County: Charles County
Summary:
“The Road to Dawn tells the improbable story of Josiah Henson, a slave who spent forty-two years in pre-Civil War bondage in the American South and eventually escaped with his wife and four young children, travelling 600 miles and eventually settling with his family as a free man across the border in Canada. Once there, Henson rescued 118 more slaves and purchased land to build what would become one of the final stops on the Underground Railroad, a 500-person freeman settlement called Dawn. He was immortalized by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”–Provided by publisher.
Additional Resources:
Josiah Henson, – Notable People, Southern Maryland Equity in History website.
The Story of Josiah Henson, the Real Inspiration for “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, Smithsonian Magazine, Jared Brock, May 2016.
