Black History
Carte de Visite Photograph of Josiah Henson the Probable Inspiration for the Title Character of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
c. 1865 Civil War Period, Carte de Visite Photograph of Josiah Henson, Author, Abolitionist, and Minister Born into Slavery, who is regarded as the Inspiration for the Title Character of the Book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” London Maker’s Imprint, Choice Very Fine.
An original Carte de Visite Photograph, 2.5” x 4”, of a rather handsome and distinguished looking seated Josiah Henson and another unidentified standing white male. Text at bottom reads: “The London School of Photography, 103 Newgate Street, E.C.” Backstamp of the maker reads: “W.S. Bradshaw 20 Years Photographer at The London School of Photography 103 Newgate Street, E.C. London Enlargements can be made in oil, water color or crayon”. A handwritten note in pencil on the upper back reads: “Uncle Tom (sitting) / Cabin (USA) / as per R.A. Wood.” Very rare, this example has nice contrast and tone. It is the first we have offered.
Josiah Henson (June 15, 1789 – May 5, 1883) was an author, abolitionist, and minister. Born into slavery, in Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland, he escaped to Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1830, and founded a settlement and laborer's school for other fugitive slaves at Dawn, near Dresden, in Kent County, Upper Canada, of British Canada.

Henson's autobiography, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself (1849), is believed to have inspired the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Following the success of Stowe's novel, Henson issued an expanded version of his memoir in 1858, Truth Stranger Than Fiction. Father Henson's Story of His Own Life (published Boston: John P. Jewett & Company, 1858).

Interest in his life continued, and nearly two decades later, his life story was updated and published as Uncle Tom's Story of His Life: An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson (1876).