Approximately 67 years before the end of the American Civil War, George Moses Horton was born. He grew up a slave to the Horton family in North Carolina. While working on the tobacco plantation, his mind freely traversed the world of verse and rhyme. Using old hymnals, he taught himself to read, while also learning the poetic structure of stanzas.
Horton did not officially learn to write until his 30s, but his adaptation to the written word was so pronounced that he could construct his own poems and memorize them without writing them down. Eventually, those poems would be written down by others. But before they ever reached pen and paper, he found not only an audience of listeners but also buyers. When his master, James Horton, would send him to Chapel Hill for work-related business, he would venture to the University of North Carolina. Students, enthralled with his verses, would purchase lines from him for their own romantic purposes.
George Moses Horton’s poem “Departed Love,” digitized from the original by the Southern Historical Collection in the Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina. Public Domain
His name and literary gift spread throughout the school, Chapel Hill, Chatham County (where he was from), and the state of North Carolina. He hoped his fame would assist in raising money to buy his freedom. As he continued to sell his verses, Caroline Lee Whiting Hentz, a novelist and professor’s wife, began transcribing his poems and getting them published. Soon, Horton had assembled enough poems to publish a collection. The work, titled “The Hope of Liberty,” was published in 1829 and was the first book published by an African American in the South. It was also the first work to ever be published by a slave, and specifically a slave who protested his slavery.
In his 10-stanza poem “On Liberty and Slavery,” Horton proclaimed:
“Oh, Liberty! thou golden prize, So often sought by blood— We crave thy sacred sun to rise, The gift of nature’s God!”In a way, his poem was prophetic, as approximately 30 years later, the “golden prize” was “sought”—and won—”by blood” during the Civil War.
George Moses Horton photographed between 1861 and 1865. Public Domain
Three years after his book was published, Horton learned to write and was earning $3 a week. He worked out an agreement with his owner to purchase his time so that he could be free to write his poetry. He also became a handyman and worker at the university. In 1845, he published his second collection of poetry, titled “The Poetical Works.” As his work progressed, so did his acclaim—so much so that prominent North Carolinians, including Governor John Owen and two of the university’s presidents, supported his request for freedom.
His freedom, however, would not come until the Civil War’s end. In 1865, he joined the 9th Michigan Cavalry Volunteers, which traveled throughout North Carolina. Based on those travels and experiences, he wrote his third work, “Naked Genius.”
For the final 17 years of his life, he resided in the city where the greatest American words―“that all men are created equal”―were written. Though he would die in 1883 in Philadelphia, he would be most remembered and honored in Chatham County. In 1978, June 28 was made “George Moses Horton Day.” A local middle school was named after him. In 1996, he was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. The following year, he was declared the Historic Poet Laureate of Chatham County.
