Life and History of William O'Neal

By the middle of the 19th century, slavery had created a fevered pitch in the politics of the country, as abolitionists and slavery proponents fought a war of words and actual wars in Kansas and Nebraska. While the South postured for secession, abolitionists, both white and black, created a stronger movement in the Northeast in places like Boston. Ultimately the issue would have to be settled via civil war. 

William O’Neal was born a slave in 1827.  Ambitious from a young age, he trains as a carpenter, cooper, and engineer, quietly amassing money to purchase his freedom.  He finally does so by selling his wife (with her consent). After the Civil War, he establishes himself as a successful businessman and landowner.  The narrative is credited to William as the author, but since it is written in the third person, it is likely someone else wrote it.

This edition of Life and History of William O’Neal is specially formatted with a Table of Contents and pictures of famous abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and more.