MS094
THE BLACK POET

George Moses Horton (ca. 1797-ca. 1883) has been called "the most remarkable literary figure ever born in North Carolina" and the "state's most amazing natural poet" according to research done by Richard Walser. Horton held a unique place in history--he was the first slave poet of the South; the first southern black man to have his poetry published; the country's first black professional man of letters who earned his living from writing; and his was the first clear back outcry in poetic form against slavery. (Richmond, 81). Placing Horton into context, he accomplished all of these firsts at a time when slaves by law were not to be taught to read or write, and wrote love poems to southern white women. By the time Horton was twenty, he had begun selling students at the University of North Carolina acrostics on the name of their sweethearts for twenty-five, fifty and seventy-five cents. Horton published three volumes of poetry: The Hope of Liberty (1829), The Poetical Works of George M. Horton, the Colored Bard of North Carolina, To Which is Prefixed The Life of the Author, Written by Himself (1845) and Naked Genius (1865).

The Black Poet was the 1865 announced title of a work to be published that was to contain "a concise history of the life" of George Moses Horton, bard and recently freed slave. (Walser, vii) Richard Walser used the 1865 title for his 1966 work on Horton since no evidence exists that the 1865 book was ever written. Walser wrote his "concise history" during part of a year he spent on a Guggenheim Fellowship. Claude Howell did the drawings for the book.

This Collection contains the manuscript draft that was sent to Claude Howell. The index is not included in the manuscript draft.

Claude Howell donated the Collection to the Wilmington College Library on March 23, 1966.

The Collection has been designated Accession Number 94 of the Manuscripts Collection, Special Collections Department, William Madison Randall Library, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, North Carolina 28403-3297.

Literary rights are retained by the author.

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Processed by Lana Donaldson Taylor 
Special Collections Librarian
Manuscripts Collection
William Madison Randall Library 
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington
1994

SOURCES

The African American Encyclopedia, 1993, George Forman - Juvenile and Young Adult Fiction v., "Horton, George Moses".

The National Cyclopeadia of American Biography........., 1891, v. VII, "Horton, George Moses".

Powell, William S., ed. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979. H-K v. "Horton, George Moses.

Richard, Merle A. Bid the Vassal Soar; Interpretive essays on the life Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753-1784) and George Moses Horton (ca. 1791-1883). Washington: Howard University Press, 1974.

Walser, Richard Gaither. The Black Poet; being the remarkable story (partly told my [sic] himself) of George Moses Horton, a North Carolina slave. New York: Philosophical Library [c1966].

COPYRIGHT:  Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.