Father Henson's Story of His Own Life

<p>Josiah Henson (June 15 1789 - May 5 1883) was an author abolitionist and minister. Born into slavery in Port Tobacco Charles County Maryland he escaped to Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1830 and founded a settlement and laborer's school for other fugitive slaves at Dawn near Dresden in Kent County Upper Canada of Ontario. Henson's autobiography The Life of Josiah Henson Formerly a Slave Now an Inhabitant of Canada as Narrated by Himself (1849) is believed to have inspired the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Following the success of Stowe's novel Henson issued an expanded version of his memoir in 1858 Truth Stranger Than Fiction. Father Henson's Story of His Own Life (published Boston: John P. Jewett & Company 1858). Interest in his life continued and nearly two decades later his life story was updated and published as Uncle Tom's Story of His Life: An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson (1876). </p><p><br></p><p>... Josiah Henson is the first black man to be featured on a Canadian stamp. He was also recognized by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in 1999 as a National Historic Person. A federal plaque to him is located in the Henson family cemetery next to Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site.</p><p><br></p><p>A 2018 documentary titled Redeeming Uncle Tom: The Josiah Henson Story covers his life.</p><p><br></p><p>In 1978 plans were announced in Owensboro to recognize Henson with a memorial site in the city but the recession of the 1980s put that plan on indefinite hold. In 1991 a playwright was hired to create a drama based on Henson's Daviess County years; in the summer of 1993 Josiah was staged at the RiverPark Center in Owensboro and its six-night run drew more than 4000 people. (wikipedia.org)</p><p><br></p>