“Give Respect to Uncle Tom” Josiah Henson, the Untold Story

By Imam Fajri Ansari -Masjid NuMan  

Imam Fajri Ansari -Masjid NuM

It’s been an ongoing challenge to tell the real story of the term and use of “Uncle Tom.” If people knew the real Uncle Tom, they would realize that it’s a great compliment. This past year while driving through Canada from Detroit to Buffalo, I stopped at the Josiah Henson Museum of African Canadian History. 

The museum is in Dresden, Canada approximately 50 miles east of the Detroit and the Canadian border. The opening description of the museum reads that an estimated 30,000 Black refugees from slavery in the United States fled to Canada along the silent tracks of the Underground Railroad. A network of people who aided these refugees as they followed the North Star to freedom. One of these freedom seekers was abolitionist, preacher and author Josiah Henson. After escaping slavery in Maryland and Kentucky, Josiah Henson established himself as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, travelling the clandestine network of paths and safehouses in reverse. In his role as conductor, he rescued 118 enslaved people.” 

With the better-known stories and the miraculous accomplishments of Harriet Tubman as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, the person who is known as “Uncle Tom” freed more enslaved people than Harriett Tubman! So how did the term Uncle Tom become associated with being a sell-out, lover of slave masters, buffoon minstrel character etc.? Simply, those who do not want liberation, freedom, justice and equality for all people will attempt to control the narrative of the history of enslavement in America. 

In 1852, Harriett Beecher Stowe wrote an anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Josiah Henson own memoirs and life experiences became the featured character Tom in her book. Under great controversy and threat to the institution of slavery in the United States, her book would sell 300,000 copies in the United States alone and become the bestselling novel of the 19th century. Real life stories of plantation life in America were being exposed at home and abroad. I recommend reading “The Road to Dawn-Josiah Henson and the story that sparked the Civil War” by Jared A. Brock. The road to dawn is a reference to the township established by Josiah Henson in Dresen, Canada called “Dawn Settlement.”  The museum reports that the settlement grew to nearly 800 people at its peak and is the location of the museum. 

Josiah Henson was born in Maryland around 1789. One of his first memories was seeing his father whipped, having his ear cut off for striking a white man who was attempting to rape his mother. His father was sold to a plantation in the south, and he would never see him again. Years later he would be separated from his mother and reunited to another plantation near Washington, DC. Henson was a strong powerful figure. He had leadership skills that led his plantation owner to appoint him as master market man for his business. 

Henson also was a skilled orator; he memorized versus from the Bible although he didn’t learn to read until the age of 40. A white minister secretly helped plan for Henson to speak at churches to raise money to buy his freedom. He would eventually raise 350 dollars towards the purchase of his freedom. His owner would eventually renege on an agreement and swindle him out of his money. Henson would be sent to plantations in Kentucky and to one of the cruelest plantations in Louisiana. Some of Josiah Henson experiences was used in the writing of Stowes characterization of slavery. 

Many elite plantation owners were so threatened by the impact her book was having, that they started an anti-Tom novel writing campaign to produce their own version of slavery. They would glamorize this propaganda by spreading minstrel shows of “Uncle Tom” to as many places they could reach. This campaign unfortunately continues today every time someone calls a person “Uncle Tom” as a disrespect. 

The Josiah Henson Museum of African Canadian History also highlights several unknown African Canadians and abolitionist. Due to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act passed by the United States Congress that allowed plantation owners to recapture escaped enslave people in free states, many fled to Canada. The museum also points out that Canada had its own institution of slavery for 200 years! Practically all its enslaved people were imported from the United States and were used as indentured servants, Canada did not have the climate for labor plantations found in the southern part of the United States. In 1834 Parliament of Canada abolished the enslavement of African people. One African Canadian women Marie Joseph Angelique whose story inspired the anti-slavery movement in Canada is highlighted in the museum. A book by Marcel Trudel “Canada’s Forgotten Slaves: Two hundred Years of Bondage” features her story. 

“I’ll use my freedom well” is a consistent theme by Josiah Henson that you will see throughout the museum. Josiah Henson rose to international fame, travelling to Europe for speaking engagements. In 1841, Henson co-founded the British American Institute of Science and Technology- a vocational school promoting independence and self-reliance. The Dawn Settlement grew around the school and established farms, sawmills, gristmills and local industries.  

Josiah Henson worked his whole life to make conditions better for the disenfranchised.  Let’s respect his legacy and other great pioneers who worked to establish freedom and independence by working hard to help others. The next time we hear the term “Uncle Tom” being misused, tell the real story!