Footsteps to Freedom 2001> Day Five > The Josiah Henson Historical Centre

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" - The Josiah Henson Historical Centre
Dresden, Ontario

The Dresden site includes the original "cabin", "Uncle Tom's" gravesite, and five

Portrait of Josiah Henson

additional historic structures. The experiences of Reverend Josiah Henson, a fugitive slave from Maryland - his courage, compassion, and achievements - for 41 years. He escaped in 1830 to Upper Canada via the Underground Railroad. In 1841, he and a group of abolitionists purchased 400 acres near Dresden, Ontario and established what became known as the Dawn Settlement, where one year later they started the British American Institute for fugitive slaves, the first Black vocational school in North America.

This school was a valuable contribution to the success of formerly enslaved people who were denied access to even the most basic learning while they were in bondage. Students spent four hours working on the farms, the gristmills, the sawmills and other local industries. The rest of the day they attended the institute, learning basic educational and vocational skills.

During this same period Hensen returned several time to the U.S. to guide people to new homes in freedom. Though not as famous a conductor/abductor as Harriet Tubman, Hensen has been credited with bringing 118 people to freedom and a new life in Canada.

The descendants of Hensen, including Barbara Carter, his great, great granddaughter, founded the Uncle Tom’s Cabin Museum in Dresden (the new name for the area). One of the missions of the museum is to show visitors that the “Uncle Tom” label used in a derogatory way today is really an error in understanding that evolved from the minstrel shows of the late 19th century. Harriet Beecher Stowe took her information about Hensen’s life for her Uncle Tom character from his 1849 autobiography. This is verified in her Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin book.

Box for Henry Box Brown
One of our group sat in the box that was a replica on display of the crate that Henry Brown mailed himself to Philadelphia and freedom. It took 26 hours, some of it upside down.

Artifacts of slavery

Cabin with our group and other

Church – This is the AME Church of which Hensen was pastor.

Game:
Can you identify the elements of this free black’s house that indicate the family was free?

[Click for larger image]

The great-great-granddaughter of Josiah Henson Barbara Carter with Peg Hill from SBCSS

Below, a neck attachment that would disable a slave from running through bush or forest -- usually used on someone who had made escape attempts before. At right, thumb screws used to torture someone for information. Below that, a speculum orus -- used to force feed a slave.

Uncle Tom Cabin was published in many formats.