Samuel Ringgold Ward
In 1817, Samuel Ringgold Ward was born into slavery in Maryland. He was treated harshly and resented the entire system of chattel slavery. To escape this horrible system, Ward ran away, using the Underground Railroad to reach New York City. In New York, Ward became a school teacher and later a preacher.
His interest in journalism led him to the job of an editor of the Farmer and Northern Star. Wars became involved with the abolitionist movement that was very popular in New York. He, along with others founded the Liberty and Free-Soil parties, edited the Impartial Citizen in Boston and credited the Alienated American. Ward moved to Canada.
His abolitionist nature led him to lecture for the Antislavery Society. Ward?s work lecturing about his life as a slave led him to write an autobiographical book about it entitled, The Autobiography of a Fugitive Slave. Ward visited England, then retired to Jamaica. In 1864, he died there.