Josiah Henson (1789-1883)

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2009

 

Photo Source - Wikipedia

Plaque Location

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent
In Dresden, at the Henson Family Cemetery
at the corner of Park Street (Road 40) and Uncle Tom's Road

Coordinates: N 42 35.127 W 82 11.798

Plaque Text

After escaping to Upper Canada from slavery in Kentucky, the Reverend Josiah Henson became a conductor of the Underground Railroad and a force in the abolition movement. The founder of the Black settlement of Dawn, he was also an entrepreneur and established a school, the British-American Institute. His fame grew after Harriet Beecher Stowe stated that his memoirs published in 1849 had provided "conceptions and incidents" for her extraordinarily popular novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. Henson's celebrity raised international awareness of Canada as a haven for refugees from slavery.

Related Ontario plaques
The Dawn Settlement
The Underground Railroad in Canada
The Sandwich First Baptist Church
John Brown's Convention 1858
Mary Ann Shadd Cary 1823-1893
The Buxton Settlement

More
Information

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Religion

More
Black History

Other Plaques in Dresden
The Dawn Settlement
First Regular Baptist Church, Dresden
The Founding of Dresden
Hugh Burnett and the National Unity Association

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