Moses Roper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Moses Roper (b 1815-d after 1861) was a mulatto slave who wrote one of the major early books about life as a slave in the United States.
Moses Roper was born about 1815 in Caswell County, North Carolina to Henry Roper and Nancy, a female slave of mixed African American and Native American ancestry.
Moses escaped from slavery about sixteen times all over the Southern United States, escaping successfully to Boston, Massachusetts, New York City and then to England in 1835. He attended school in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.
Moses became quite famous in England because he had escaped slavery and wrote a book about his life as a slave, which is very explicit about the torture methods used by many slave holders.
Moses married Ann Stephen Price in Bristol, England on December 21, 1839. He had four daughters, one born on the Atlantic Ocean on the way to Nova Scotia c1844 and the other three born in Nova Scotia 1850-1857. Many of his descendants live in Australia.
He probably died in England after 1861. His wife died in Wales after 1861.
Several universities use Moses' book, Narrative of My Escape from Slavery, in African American studies courses.
[edit] Notes
- ↑ ISBN 0-486-42718-8, available online [2]
