The road to dawn : Josiah Henson and the story that sparked the Civil War

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Title:

The road to dawn : Josiah Henson and the story that sparked the Civil War

Author:

Brock, Jared, author.

ISBN:

9781432858483

Edition:

Large print edition.

Physical Description:

523 pages (large print), 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 23 cm.

Contents:

Port Tobacco -- The wounded leader -- Kentucky bound -- Double cross -- Murder and providence -- The great escape -- The struggle for light -- The Great Exhibition -- The real Uncle Tom -- Homecoming -- Epilogue -- A clarion call.

Personal Subject:

Henson, Josiah, 1789-1883.

Subject Term:

Slaves -- United States -- Biography.

Fugitive slaves -- Canada -- Biography.

Black people -- Canada -- Biography.

Local Subject:

Large print editions.

Summary:

A dynamic, driven man of intelligence and unyielding principles, Josiah Henson overcame incredible odds to escape with his family from forty-one years in bondage. He then worked to improve the lives of hundreds of freedmen throughout his long life. Henson found international fame--including visits to Windsor Castle and the White House--as the real "Uncle Tom" of the novel that fueled the abolitionist movement and ignited the Civil War. After being all but lost to history for over a century, The Road to Dawn tells his incredible story.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Bayport Public Library	LP 306.3 BRO	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A major literary moment: after being lost to history for more than a century, The Road to Dawn uncovers the incredible story of the real-life slave who inspired Uncle Tom's Cabin .

-He rescued 118 enslaved people
-He won a medal at the first World's Fair in London
-Queen Victoria invited him to Windsor Castle
-Rutherford B. Hayes entertained him at the White House
-He helped start a freeman settlement, called Dawn, that was known as one of the final stops on the Underground Railroad
-He was immortalized in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, the novel that Abraham Lincoln jokingly blamed for sparking the Civil War

But before all this, Josiah Henson was brutally enslaved for more than forty years.

Author-filmmaker Jared A. Brock retraces Henson's 3,000+ mile journey from slavery to freedom and re-introduces the world to a forgotten figure of the Civil War era, along with his accompanying documentary narrated by Hollywood actor Danny Glover.

The Road to Dawn is a ground-breaking biography lauded by leaders at the NAACP, the Smithsonian, senators, authors, professors, the President of Mauritius, and the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, and will no doubt restore a hero of the abolitionist movement to his rightful place in history.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Uncle Tom, the hero of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, is generally viewed as a humble, even obsequious character, symbolizing African-Americans' internalization of their oppression. But, as anti-human trafficking activist Brock's vivid biography shows, Josiah Henson, on whom Tom was based, liberated not only himself but many of his fellow slaves. Born on a Maryland plantation in the late 18th century, Henson becomes an overseer and a preacher, for many years accepting rather than resisting white dominance. But when faced with the prospect of being sold apart from his family, he orchestrates their escape. Reaching Canada with his wife and four children, Henson becomes a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad and establishes a free black community, Dawn, in rural Ontario. He narrates his autobiography to a Bostonian abolitionist, who brings Henson to Stowe's attention, and she draws heavily upon his experiences in composing her novel, which Abraham Lincoln later claims created the Civil War. While Brock's breezy writing style, replete with imagined conversations between historical figures, sometimes seems at odds with the somber subject matter, this is nonetheless a moving account of Henson's life and a book from which readers will learn a great deal about the struggle against slavery. Agents: Jennifer Gates and Jane von Mehren, Aevitas Creative Management. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

Brock (A Year of Living Prayerfully) graphically recounts the tumultuous Maryland childhood of Josiah Henson (1789-1883), during which time his enslaved family is separated, and Henson himself is beaten and denied literacy. While he eventually raises money to pay for his freedom, his third master reneges on their deal. As a result, Henson, his wife, Nancy, and their children escape to Canada in 1830. Brock vividly describes Henson's years at the Dawn Settlement, a refuge for fugitive slaves, and his founding of the British-American Institute. In 1849, Henson's autobiography is published followed by his prophetic visit to Harriet Beecher Stowe's home in Andover, MA. The author effectively relays how Henson was surprisingly defamed by residents of Dawn during a trip to London, and his efforts to clear his name. Over time, however, old charges of misappropriation of funds at Dawn reemerge, Nancy Henson passes away, he remarries, and his life is universally accepted as the inspiration for Stowe's Uncle Tom. Following Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (1863), many at Dawn returned to America, and Henson's beloved institute simply fades away. Nonetheless, he would remain at Dawn for life. VERDICT A captivating biography of superb scholarship. Recommended for U.S., Anglo-American, and African American historians, middle period specialists and general readers.-John Carver Edwards, formerly with Univ. of Georgia Libs. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

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