Twenty-two Years a Slave and Forty Years a Freeman

This revealing, poignantly written autobiography describes what America was like for a former slave who lived most of his life as a freeman in the North: the help he received from abolitionist groups; his years as a successful merchant in the Rochester, New York, area; how he aided fugitive slaves; and his support of a small ex-slave community in Canada. Invaluable for its descriptions of achievements among free blacks in pre-Civil War society, this book is essential reading for students of American history and African-American studies.