George Moses Horton Materials at Wilson Special Collections Library: Other Resources
Manuscripts held by other libraries
Essay "Individual Influence" by George Moses Horton, part of the Henry Harrisse papers, New York Public Library
Acrostic poems to Mary McClean and Sophia Alexander (ca. 1854) by George Moses Horton. These were commissioned by Richard Allison Torrance while a student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. From the Torrance and Banks families papers, J. Murray Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte.
Letter from George Moses Horton to David Swain, undated, asking for an answer to a previous inquiry for Swain to purchase him, therefore sometime after the letter appearing in the Swain papers held at Wilson Special Collections Library. From the Miscellaneous Records PC.21.2 State Archives, Raleigh, NC
Verso of same letter
Secondary sources
Articles
"George Moses Horton, North Carolinian" by Blyden Jackson. In the North Carolina Historical Review. Vol. 53, no. 2 (Apr. 1976).
"'Let us Desert this Friendless Place': George Moses Horton in Philadelphia--1866" by Reginald H. Pitts. In The Journal of Negro History Vol. 80, No. 4 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 145-156 (12 pages) Published By: The University of Chicago Press
"An American Man of Letters" by Collier Cobb. Published in The University Magazine, October 1909. Digitized at the Internet Archive.
Books
The Black Bard of North Carolina by ISBN: 0807823414Publication Date: 1997-04-28For his humanistic religious verse, his poignant and deeply personal antislavery poems, and, above all, his lifelong enthusiasm for liberty, nature, and the art of poetry, George Moses Horton merits a place of distinction among nineteenth-century African American poets. Enslaved from birth until the close of the Civil War, the self-taught Horton was the first American slave to protest his bondage in published verse and the first black man to publish a book in the South. As a man and as a poet, his achievements were extraordinary. In this volume, Joan Sherman collects sixty-two of Horton's poems. Her comprehensive introduction--combining biography, history, cultural commentary, and critical insight--presents a compelling and detailed picture of this remarkable man's life and art. George Moses Horton (ca. 1797-1883) was born in Northampton County, North Carolina. A slave for sixty-eight years, Horton spent much of his life on a farm near Chapel Hill, and in time he fostered a deep connection with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The author of three books of poetry, Horton was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in May of 1996.
The North Carolina Roots of African American Literature by ISBN: 0807829943Publication Date: 2006-02-27The first African American to publish a book in the South, the author of the first female slave narrative in the United States, the father of black nationalism in America--these and other founders of African American literature have a surprising connection to one another: they all hailed from the state of North Carolina. This collection of poetry, fiction, autobiography, and essays showcases some of the best work of eight influential African American writers from North Carolina during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In his introduction, William L. Andrews explores the reasons why black North Carolinians made such a disproportionate contribution (in quantity and lasting quality) to African American literature as compared to that of other southern states with larger African American populations. The authors in this anthology parlayed both the advantages and disadvantages of their North Carolina beginnings into sophisticated perspectives on the best and the worst of which humanity, in both the South and the North, was capable. They created an African American literary tradition unrivaled by that of any other state in the South. Writers included here are Charles W. Chesnutt, Anna Julia Cooper, David Bryant Fulton, George Moses Horton, Harriet Jacobs, Lunsford Lane, Moses Roper, and David Walker.
Other resources
Biographical entries
- Biography by Richard Walser at Documenting the American South
Newspapers
Utilize the search function to find newspaper articles about George Moses Horton. Suggested searches include "G.M. Horton" and "George Horton," including another nickname the "Black Bard."
- Chronicling America
- Newspapers.com
- Requires affiliation with UNC-Chapel Hill or searching on campus. Free access to North Carolina newspaper content through 1923.
Short writing and blog posts
"Martin Delany, George Moses Horton, and the Curious Path of Historic Photos Online" by Nicholas Graham, April 21, 2017
clipping: Horton poem in Fayetteville Weekly Observer 07 Aug 1828, Page 4
clipping: Horton poem in The Chapel Hill Gazette 16 May 1857, Page 3
clipping: Horton in the Anti-Slavery Bugle 17 Apr 1858, Page 4