Henry Walton Bibb

1815 - 1854

Name: Henry Walton Bibb

Birthplace: Shelby County, Kentucky

Status: Born a Slave

Residence: Kentucky, then Canada

Abolitionist Involvement: When a slave trader then purchased his wife whom he was given permission to marry, and then forced her to become his prostitute for hire, Henry was devastated and vowed to escape. He became an incorrigible slave tolerating no orders from any master. He was then sold 6 times. He successfully escaped, but was compelled to return when he left his family behind. With much of his family destroyed by slavery, he left finally for Michigan in 1842. He joined the anti-slavery society and joined Frederick Douglass. and William Wells Brown as a lecturer against slavery. He moved to Canada becoming a leader in the free black community in Ontario province. He established the Black Canadian paper, The Voice of the Fugitive urging blacks to come to Canada for their freedom. He was known to greet newly arriving slave, interview them and publish their stories in The Voice. Some personal joy came to his life when he was able to greet his brothers John Lewis and Granville, who joined him and his mother in Canada.

Bibb joined Josiah Henson in purchasing 2000 acres to establish the Refugee Home Society near Windson. He organized the North American Convention of Colored People, and sought continually for the unity of free Negroes.

Family: First wife sold away. Second wife, Mary Miles.

Place of Death: Canada

Publications/References: Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave (1849)

Link: http://gopher.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/rec_acq/history/bibb.html

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