THE LIFE AND SUFFERINGS OF LEONARD BLACK, A FUGITIVE FROM SLAVERY. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. NEW BEDFORD: PRESS OF BENJAMIN LINDSEY. 1847. NOTICE. Doubts having been expressed upon sundry matters connected with the following little narrative, Mr. Black has requested me to say a few words concerning its authorship and claims to belief. The book was written substantially by Mr. Black himself, but, in consequence of his deficiency of education--growing out of the fact that his childhood and youth were spent in slavery--it needed considerable correction to fit it for the press. This work was kindly performed, gratuitously, by a friend of the author, who was, however, very careful to preserve the narrative as nearly unchanged as possible--confining himself mostly to punctuating, correcting the orthography, striking out unnecessary words and sentences, &c. &c. I am well acquainted with Mr. Black, and have the fullest confidence in the truth of his narrative, as has the friend who assisted him in preparing it for the press, and, indeed, every one who knows him. A. M. MACY. Nantucket, October 30th, 1847. INTRODUCTION. In putting this little volume before the public, it is well, perhaps, that I should speak of my motive. Born and reared in slavery, I was, of course, deprived of education; and believing that I can be of service to the public in the ministry, I have published this account of my life and sufferings, with the hope that I might realize a sufficient sum from its sale, to enable me to procure a greater degree of education, thereby increasing my usefulness as a preacher. With this simple statement I present myself to the humane, in the hope that I may not appeal in vain. LEONARD BLACK. April, 1847. LIFE AND SUFFERINGS OF LEONARD BLACK. CHAPTER I. It is my object to give to the reader a plain, simple narrative of the more interesting portion of my life, while in slavery. I was born in Annarundel County, State of Maryland, about sixty miles below Baltimore, and lived a slave more than twenty years. My old master was a physician, but I think it prudent to withhold his name. No one, who has always enjoyed the right of liberty, can realize the horrors of slavery. To be at the will of another, to be _owned_ like a cow or horse, and liable at any moment to be sold to the highest bidder, to be transported to a distant part of the country, leaving the dearest relatives behind; to be, in fine, ground down mentally and physically by the untold curses of slavery, may be a very pretty thing to the masters of the “peculiar institution,” but it is death to the slaves. After more than twenty years of bondage, God delivered me from it, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, as he did Israel of old.