James Watkins

Early life

Watkins was born into slavery as Sam Berry about 1823 on "Mr. Abraham Ensor's plantation, about six miles from Cuckerville, Baltimore Co., Maryland." His mother was Milcah Berry. His father, Amos Salisbury, was the overseer of the plantation. Watkins describes him as a "cruel and severe disciplinarian" who never recognized Watkins as his son. Salisbury died about 1836. In the first edition of his slave narrative, Watkins states, "I well remember how glad I felt at having got rid of such a cruel overseer", but in the second edition that sentence about his feelings at the death of his father is left out.

Conversion and escape

After the death of his enslaver he was separated from some of his siblings who were sold away, while he and his mother fell into the hands of Luke Ensor, Abraham Ensor's son. In 1841, he tried to run away for the first time, but was caught and severely punished. For three months, his enslaver made him wear an iron collar with bells attached to it. Some time after his failed escape, he stole away at night to attend a Methodist camp meeting. Here, he experienced his conversion and spent many hours in intense prayer, which resulted in his returning late to the plantation. Ensor, having explicitly forbidden his participation, tied him up to whip him, but was unable to strike a single blow when Watkins told him that Jesus would hold him responsible for every blow. The religious experience having increased his longing for freedom, he made a second attempt at escaping in May 1844, succeeding with the help of several Quakers.

Abolitionist and author

To avoid detection by Luke Ensor, he changed his name to James Watkins. He settled in Hartford, Connecticut where he married Mary Eliza and had children. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 convinced him that he was not safe in the United States. Supported by his wife, Watkins sailed to Great Britain, where he began giving abolitionist lectures. While in Britain, Watkins received a letter from his wife who wrote that:

Your free papers—shame on the country which we ought to claim our own—that men and women must be bought like cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep; but it is so,--your free papers are come, and you can come home without fear of being arrested by tyrants as a runaway slave. When will this cruelty and oppression cease? I fear not before many have had to suffer on account of cruel powers and laws. But the Judge of all the earth will surely do right. Whatever you think your duty to do—my dear—I feel to say to you—do; however, I wish much to see you; but do all you can for your oppressed brethren, as I see by the papers, you sent me you are.

Separated from her husband by thousands of miles, she was an activist in her own right and encouraged her husband to do his duty for the abolitionist cause while she raised their children and looked after their home.

Watkins wrote two versions of his slave narrative, one published in 1852 – Narrative of the Life of James Watkins - the second one in 1860, entitled Struggles for Freedom. He also published a poetry book in Manchester in 1859. Watkins was a strong supporter of the free produce movement, and regularly called on the British public in his lectures to avoid purchasing or consuming goods from the U.S. which were made with enslaved labor. During his lectures, Watkins frequently showed instruments of torture, recounted stories of failed escape attempts, and occasionally sang songs at the close of such lectures. He spoke in over 1,000 locations around Britain and Ireland between 1852 and 1862 (see a map of his speaking locations in the references).

In October 1853, he lectured in Wolverhampton where the newspaper reported noted:

He commenced by calling particular attention to America, which, he said, had been untruthfully denominated the land of freedom, while, at the same time, three millions and a half of human beings were kept in a state of degradation.