Subject of the Book

The subject of this book was a native of Africa. When about seven years of age, he was kidnapped, brought to this country, and enslaved. He was supposed to belong to one of the last cargoes of this sort, ever landed on the shores of Virginia.

He was purchased at Osborne's, on James' river, by a Mr. Stewart, and was subsequently taken to the county of Nottoway, Virginia, where the whole of his long and interesting life was spent.

He grew to manhood, ignorant of letters, and a stranger to God; engaged in the occupations common to those in a state of bondage. The region of country in which he lived, was, at this period, deplorably destitute of the means of grace.

The gospel was seldom preached, the Sabbath scarcely known as a "day of sacred rest", and few were found willing to incur the odium of a public profession of religion ...