Portrait of Josiah Henson, 1876.

Born enslaved in Maryland in 1789, Josiah escaped to Canada where he became an abolitionist who spoke out against slavery, assisted in the Underground Railroad and started a settlement house for teaching trades to those who escaped enslavement.

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Notes:

• View more historical photographs

Sources:

• Photograph taken by Bradshaw & Godart, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2013.7 / “Josiah Henson.” National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/people/josiah-henson.htm