Leonard Black

Leonard Black (March 8, 1820 – April 28, 1883) was born a slave in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and was separated from his family by the age of six. He escaped after 20 years of slavery. In 1847 he wrote The Life and Sufferings of Leonard Black: A Fugitive from Slavery. With encouragement and support, he became a Baptist minister, preaching in Boston, Providence, and Nantucket before becoming minister of First Baptist Church in Petersburg, Virginia.

Black married twice in his lifetime. The first marriage was to a woman named Mary A. Black, a woman who died at some point in time after 1850 and with whom Black had five children. Her father, George Black, was an African-American Baptist minister who took him into his home after he escaped slavery and helped him become established. Black's second marriage was to Mary Anne Wheeden, with whom he had two children.

Early life Black was born a slave, the youngest of five boys. He also had a sister. The family's master was a physician. At the age of six, Leonard was sold to a carpenter named Bradford and was separated from his parents and siblings. His mother and sister were sold away to people in New Orleans. His four brothers were also "placed out". Mrs. Bradford, his mistress, was brutal. After two years and fearing that he would be killed by his wife when he was out of town, Mr. Bradford gave the boy to his father, a senior Mr. Bradford, where he served until Mr. Bradford's death. He felt he was "owned like a cow or horse".

When Black was 13 years old, the elder Mr. Bradford died and with the rest of his property, the boy was inherited by the man's daughter, Elizabeth Bradford who married a quick-tempered man named Gardner. Throughout his enslavement he endured hunger, beatings and harsh treatment. Black was beaten, among other times, when he acquired books to learn to read.

Freedom

Maine In 1837, after 20 years enslavement, Black decided to escape and go north to meet up with his three brothers; He thought his family was either in Boston, Massachusetts, or Canada. He believed he had the support of his friend Henry, but Henry informed his master that Black had escaped. Black left with 75¢ and the clothes he was wearing. He traveled to Boston, working odd jobs to earn money for food. He resisted attempts to be captured throughout his travels. In Boston he was told that there was a man named George Black, a Baptist minister from the West Indies, in Portland, Maine, but when he arrived he found that he was not related to Mr. Black. George Black and his family were kind to him; Mrs. Black was like a mother to him and he became attached to the couple's daughter. Clothes were made for him and he attended school to learn to read and write. In the spring he went to work for a farmer named Major Purley. He returned to Portland, lived with George Black and his family and worked as an engineer at a steam factory.

Family and church life

1840 to 1856

Boston By 1840, Black married the daughter of George Black and lived with George in Boston. They also lived at the house of David Walker, the abolitionist, on Joy Street. Over the course of their marriage, the couple had five children, one of whom died in childhood. Black worked at the wharfs and became a member of the Belknap Street church.

Nantucket After his accident, Black was determined to become a preacher. He traveled to Nantucket with a letter of recommendation from two Providence preachers for Deacon Berry. He preached at the York Street Baptist Church for several weeks.

Novel or slave narrative In 1847 called The Life and Sufferings of Leonard Black: A Fugitive from Slavery. He wrote the book to inform Christians of what slavery was like in hopes of ending slavery which would free his fourth brother He obtained a position at the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, New York, in 1851, but left the position shortly after when the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was enacted that required escaped slaves to be returned to their owners.

Black was the minister of the Third Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 1855. The church was formed one year earlier and had 40 members.

1860 to 1872 In 1860, Black and his wife Mary Ann lived in New York. Children that were recorded to be living by themselves and next door were Elizabeth, Lydia, Charles, Georgiana and Mary, ages 18 to 5. Leonard was married to Mary Ann and living in New Haven, Connecticut in 1870. With them were Charles, Georgiana and Anna, ages 22 to 14. Ten years later, Leonard was married to Mary Ann, who was born about 1835 in St. Thomas.

Rev. Leonard Black was the Vice President of the Virginia Baptist State Convention in 1872, living in Norfolk.

1873 to 1883 Black moved to Virginia where in 1873 he was made pastor of the First Baptist Church, also known as Harrison Street Church, in Petersburg. He was successful in doubling the church's membership during his time, |group="nb"

In 1882 Black was interviewed and a biography was written from that interview.

Death He died on April 28, 1883. More than 5,000 people attended his memorial service, one of the largest funerals held in the city. "On the day of his funeral, every store that employed a black person closed." Funds were raised within months of his death for a stone monument with a bas-relief portrait to mark Black's burial site in the African-American cemetery now known as People's Memorial Cemetery in Petersburg.