If anthropology professor Julia King had her way, an old plantation in the quiet town of La Plata, Maryland, would receive a historic marker that pays homage to a runaway slave-turned-abolitionist minister who seldom gets his due.
That’s because — through research and an archaeological dig this past summer — King and some of her current and former students concluded that the onetime plantation is the likely birthplace of Josiah Henson, a figure whose narrative is believed to have inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the much-heralded anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
“Ultimately, we want ‘Henson’ to roll off everyone’s tongue much like ‘Tubman,’ ‘Washington,’ or ‘Lincoln’ do,” King, who teaches at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, told Diverse.
“Our goal is to see this property preserved and to hear more about Henson,” King said during an interview underneath a tree near the big house on the plantation. “There’s a huge community of people who don’t know who this man was.”
King is by no means alone in her effort, which has drawn support from the Charles County NAACP.
“This is extremely important for African-Americans in Charles County, especially our young people,” said Janice Wilson, president of the Charles County branch of the NAACP. “History is vital to future success and the history of Josiah Henson must be told to students here in Charles County and beyond.”
