Horton, George Moses

Impact on the world

Published 'The Hope of Liberty' in 1829 while still legally enslaved in North Carolina, becoming the first African American to publish a book of poetry while in bondage and the first to use verse explicitly to protest the institution of slavery; he composed his poems entirely in his head, often based on the rhythms of popular hymns, before learning to write them down himself.

Life & background

Enslaved in North Carolina, Horton composed poems in his head, drawing on rhythms from popular hymns, and recited them publicly, frequently for students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who paid him for personalized love poems before he had even learned to write. After teaching himself to read and eventually write, he published 'The Hope of Liberty' in 1829, hoping unsuccessfully that sales would earn enough money to purchase his freedom; the book's frank subject matter made it unpopular with the white Southern readership whose money he needed. He published further collections, including 'The Poetical Works of George M. Horton, The Colored Bard of North Carolina' in 1845, but remained enslaved until the end of the Civil War, after which he continued writing and publishing as a free man.

Sources

1. NMAAHC (The Power of Poetry); Poetry Foundation (200 Years of Afro-American Poetry)