James Williams: Runaway Slave: Educational Version
About this ebook
When I was ten years old I was a house-boy. I had to stand at the table and brush off the flies while the guests were dining. My master and others would be talking about the slaves and what they could get for them.
One of the en turned his head and said, “Tom, you must never run away. Bad boys are the only ones that run away. When their master gets them he will sell them to Georgia where they will bore holes in your ears and plow you like a horse.”
They said this to scare me, thinking I would believe them. Seeing the difference between freedom and slavery, I made up my mind that when I was old enough I would run away.
Read this true story of how James Williams escaped from slavery alone, when he was just a boy of thirteen.
Ages 7 to 10.
Educational Versions include exercises designed to meet Common Core standards.
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About the author
James Williams was born in 1825 in Elkton, Maryland. His mother was a slave, so I was a slave. He was born in the house of William Hollingsworth, his master. At 13 years old, he escaped, alone, to freedom and found his family.
After gaining his freedom, James spent a few years helping other slaves to escape on the Underground Railroad. He would drive a wagon carrying grain. There would be escaped slaves hidden in the grain.
When James became an adult, he held a large number of jobs. He didn't like to work at a job for very long. At one point he owned a store. When he sold that, he drove a carriage. A lot of other jobs followed after that.
The last date in his autobiography is February, 1872 when he was 47 years old. It is unknown what happened to James Williams after that, or when and where he died.
