Josiah Henson (1789 – 1883) was an author, abolitionist and minister. He was born into slavery in Maryland, and escaped to Canada in 1830, where he founded a settlement for fugitive slaves in Ontario. Henson's autobiography, ‘The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself’ (1849), is thought to have inspired the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin’. The autobiography was written down by the abolitionist Samuel Atkins Eliot, a former mayor of Boston and state legislator. It traces Henson's life from his birth into slavery in 1789; his escape to Canada; his participation in the founding of the Dawn Settlement for fugitive slaves; and his trips to England to raise funds for the settlement.
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