Description
John M. Washington, the author of this handwritten narrative, describes his early life as a slave on an Orange County plantation, where he was brought when he was about two years old. Very light complexioned, he recalled that he could be easily mistaken for a white boy. His enslaved mother, who worked as a field laborer on the plantation, taught her son how to spell. During the Civil War Washington fled to freedom and in 1873 he wrote this account of his life. Citation: John Washington Papers, 1858-1865, 1982, Accession #15000. Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
