The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918

Produced by Curtis Weyant, Richard J. Shiffer, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net





[Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this
text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant
spellings and other inconsistencies. Text that has been changed to
correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook. Also, the
transcriber added the Table of Contents.]




THE JOURNAL

OF

NEGRO HISTORY

Volume III

1918




                              Table of Contents

                         Vol. III--January, 1918--No. 1

  The Story of Josiah Henson                            W. B. HARTGROVE
  Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the Negro             BENJAMIN BRAWLEY
  Palmares: The Negro Numantia                       CHARLES E. CHAPMAN
  Slavery in California                              DELILAH L. BEASLEY
  Documents
    California Freedom Papers
    Thomas Jefferson's Thoughts on the Negro
  Some Undistinguished Negroes
  Book Reviews
  Notes


                          Vol. III--April, 1918--No. 2

  Benjamin Banneker                                      HENRY E. BAKER
  George Liele and Andrew Bryan                           JOHN W. DAVIS
  Fifty Years of Howard University  - Part I        DWIGHT O. W. HOLMES
  Historical Errors of James Ford Rhodes                  JOHN R. LYNCH
  Documents
    Letters of Governor Edward Coles
  Some Undistinguished Negroes
  Book Reviews
  Notes


                           Vol. III--July, 1918--No. 3

  Slavery in Kentucky                                  IVAN E. MCDOUGLE
  Book Reviews
  Notes

                         Vol. III--October, 1918--No. 4

  Beginnings of Miscegenation of Whites and Blacks    CARTER G. WOODSON
  Gerrit Smith's Effort in Behalf of Negroes                 ZITA DYSON
  The Buxton Settlement in Canada                           FRED LANDON
  Fifty Years of Howard University - Part II        DWIGHT O. W. HOLMES
  Documents
    What the Framers of the Federal Constitution
      Thought of the Negro
  Some Undistinguished Negroes
  Book Reviews
  Notes




THE JOURNAL

OF

NEGRO HISTORY

VOL. III--JANUARY, 1918--No. 1




THE STORY OF JOSIAH HENSON[1]


No one ever uttered a more forceful truth than Frederika Bremer when
she said in speaking to Americans: "The fate of the Negro is the
romance of your history." The sketches of heroes showing the life of
those once exploited by Christian men must ever be interesting to
those who would know the origin and the development of a civilization
distinctly American. In no case is this more striking than in that of
Josiah Henson, the man who probably was present to Harriet Beecher
Stowe's mind when she graphically portrayed slavery in writing "Uncle
Tom's Cabin."

Josiah Henson was born June 15, 1789, on a farm in Charles County,
Maryland, where his mother was hired out. His parents had six
children. The only recollection he had of his father was that of
seeing his right ear cut off, his head gashed and his back lacerated,
as a result of the cruel punishment inflicted upon him because he had
dared to beat the overseer of the plantation for brutally assaulting
the slave's wife. Because of becoming morose, disobedient and
intractable thereafter, Henson's father was sold to a planter in
Alabama and his relatives never heard of him again. His mother was
then brought back to the estate of her owner, a Doctor McPherson, who
was much kinder to his slaves. Dr. McPherson gave the youth his own
name, Josiah, and the family name Henson after Dr. McPherson's uncle,
who served in the Revolutionary War. Josiah showed signs of mental and
religious development under the pious care of his Christian mother and
for that reason became his master's favorite.

Upon the death of Doctor McPherson, however, it became necessary to
sell the estate and slaves to divide his property among his heirs. The
Henson family was then scattered throughout the country and worst of
all Josiah was separated from his mother, notwithstanding his mother's
earnest entreaty that her new master, Isaac Riley, should also
purchase her baby. Instead of listening to the appeal of this
afflicted woman clinging to his hands, he disengaged himself from her
with violent blows. She was then taken to Riley's farm in Montgomery
County. Josiah was purchased by a man named Robb, a tavern keeper
living near Montgomery Court-House. Both masters were unusually cruel,
in keeping with the tyrannical methods employed by planters of that
time. Because of ill health resulting from the lack of proper care,
Josiah became very sickly. He was then providentially restored to his
mother, having been offered to her owner by Robb for a small sum, for
the reason that it was thought that he would die.

His third master was "vulgar in his habits, unprincipled and cruel in
his general deportment and especially addicted to the vice of
licentiousness."[2] On his plantation Henson served as water-boy,
butler and finally as a field hand, experiencing the usual hardship of
the slave.