I first learned about Rev. Thomas when I read a book that told the stories of several slaves in their own words. Rev. Thomas’ story was just an excerpt, but I was so intrigued that I ordered the book it was taken from. The book had originally begun from memoirs that were related by Rev. Thomas to a friend. Rev. Thomas first published the book in 1855 in order to buy his son’s freedom from the proceeds. He himself continued to make changes in it, revising and reprinting it several times more in his lifetime.
His book, The Experience of Rev. Thomas H. Jones, Who was a Slave for Forty-Three Years, is now available through The University of North Carolina Press.
Thomas Jones was born a slave on a plantation in Hanover County, North Carolina belonging to John Hawes. Hawes owned about 50 slaves including Jones’ parents, and his five siblings. His parents lived in a small cabin but did their best to keep it warm and provide for their children. To accomplish this, they worked into the night to make even the simplest of furniture. Jones recalled that his parents honestly informed their children of the sad circumstances they had been born into, letting them know that at some point they would be taken from one another. Even so, they tried to make their home a happy place creating happy memories. Still, Jones was made to feel by what he saw taking place around him and by how his parents and the other slaves were treated that he “was inferior and degraded, and that [he] must pass through life in a dependent and suffering condition.”
Life on Hawes’ plantation was difficult. During planting and harvesting seasons, the slaves labored in the fields from the light of day till darkness. Even the children were required to help. Once a year, every man received a pair of shoes, a hat, and a blanket. The family was given enough coarse, homespun cotton to make one pair of work clothes for the man, a work frock for the woman and a frock for each of the children. Any other clothing they needed, they had to get on their own somehow. For food, each slave was given a peck of corn every week. Nothing more. Any other food only came if they could acquire it by their own means. They had to grind the corn in order to use it and this task as well as sewing their clothing had to be done after they finished the daily work required.
So was the way of life for young Thomas until the age of nine. Then one day while at home with his mother, a “colored” man came to their door, saying that Thomas had been sold to Mr. Jones of Wilmington, North Carolina, 45 miles away. “Tom, you must come with me,” the man told him. Tom ran to his mother to save him, and though she wept bitterly, she told him that she was not able to help him. She threw her arms around Tom, but he was soon torn away by the man and pushed down the road, away from his home. His mother followed, begging for another moment to say good-bye. Her pleas were met with a cowhide striking the ground in her direction and being ordered to return to her home.
“ Tom ran to his mother to save him, and though she wept bitterly, she told him that she was not able to help him. ”
It was a cold January day as Tom walked with the man who had come for him to his new home in Wilmington. The man, known as Abraham, was the slave driver for Tom’s new owner. He walked too quickly for Tom to keep up and Tom was weary and cold, begging to stop and rest. Instead, Abraham picked Tom up and carried him to his new home, leaving him in a slave’s cabin. Tom’s jobs here would include caring for the horse the master and his family used most often, carrying water and wood into the master’s house, sweeping the rooms in the house, cleaning the boots and shoes for the men in the house, and running errands back and forth to the store that the master owned. The work began at dawn and sometimes lasted as late as midnight. This was to be his childhood life for a year, separated from his family and all he had known. It was also during this time of intense homesickness and hard work, that Tom received his first beating, a cowhide slapped onto his back causing his blood to drop to the floor.
After the first year, however, Tom’s responsibilities lessened somewhat, allowing for more to eat and more time spent near the warmth of the fireplace. Eventually, Tom was given the position of working in his master’s store. He cleaned it, stocked the shelves, organized the storeroom and delivered goods to customers’ homes. The store’s manager was very kind to Tom, taking an interest in him. Tom’s life improved, but when the manager quit he was replaced with a young, poor, white boy about Tom’s age. James Dixon was the boy’s name and he brought his books to the store to do his schoolwork. Tom watched this with great interest. Slaves were not encouraged to be educated—their owners realizing that with education might come rebellion against them, as slaves would want their freedom.
James Dixon was nice to Tom as long as he was in a good mood. When he was, Tom would ask to see his books and ask him questions about them. James explained to Tom that he was learning so that he could have his own business when he became an adult. Men who were educated always got along in the world and had lots of friends, James said. This information ignited a great desire in Tom to learn to read. James said the first book needed for that was a spelling book. Tom soon figured a way to obtain one.
“ This devious plan worked and Tom had his first book. ”
Tom sometimes ran errands for other men who were visiting in the store for which he was given a few coins. Saving these, he approached the owner of the town’s printing store in order to buy a book. But this man told Tom it was not fitting for him to have a book. This only made Tom devise another plan. He went to a bookstore in town and told the owner that he was buying a book for a white boy who lived in his master’s house and had been given the money to buy it by that boy. This devious plan worked and Tom had his first book. He eagerly devoured it, learning the alphabet and the basics for reading.
Tom hid his book in the back storeroom, reading it whenever he was alone in the store. But he soon realized he was in need of a tutor to help him further. He befriended a ten-year-old white boy, who came to visit him in the back store room. The boy was happy to secretly assist as Tom paid him after each lesson. But these meetings were observed by the young son of a slave who reported what was happening to the boy’s father. Tom’s little teacher was forbidden to continue.
By this time, however, Tom was reading two syllable words and had good knowledge of how to proceed. He was highly encouraged, believing he was preparing for manhood and an end to being a slave. Another colored friend told Tom the name of another book that would teach him how to write and give further instruction for reading. He told him exactly how to get it from the store, which Tom did. He practiced writing at home at night, keeping writing instruments under his bed.
“ Tom was determined never to tell—he would rather die than disclose his secret. He would by all means protect his book. ”
One day, however, as Tom studied his book in the back room of the store, his master came upon him unexpectedly, allowing no time to hide the book. He threw it down quickly but his master did not see what it was. He asked Tom what he had thrown down, and all the while Tom denied that he had thrown anything down. Tom managed to keep the book out of sight as his master made him move things around so that he could search for whatever he had seen Tom throw down. When the object didn’t surface, he reached for the whip and Tom received 30 lashes. At the end of the beating, he asked Tom again what he had thrown down. Tom was determined never to tell—he would rather die than disclose his secret. He would by all means protect his book.
When his master saw how badly he had beaten Tom, he apologized to him and had another slave treat the deep cuts on his back. The master’s wife came upon them and was very upset with her husband for beating Tom. In time, Tom’s back healed and he went right on secretly studying his book and learning to read. One day, Tom came across a reading about God in his book. It said: “God, who sees and knows all our thoughts, loves the good and makes them happy; while he is angry with the bad, and will punish them for all their sins.”
Tom knew he was not good and could not rest thinking about this. He decided to visit a slave who sometimes preached to the slaves on Sunday. He told this man, James Galley, what was troubling him and asked him what he should do. James told him about Jesus and that he should ask the Lord to forgive him and that his prayers would be answered. James invited him to the local church meetings for slaves. These things Tom did with no change in his spirit. Rather, he became more and more disconsolate. Even his master noticed and asked him what was wrong. Tom did not want to lie anymore in his effort to be good and receive happiness. He told his master he was seeking happiness through God which made his master become very angry, insisting that Tom stop praying and going to meetings. There was no heaven or hell, his master exclaimed.
“ His master became very angry, insisting that Tom stop praying and going to meetings. ”
Then began a time of whippings from his master, whenever Tom reported in answer to his master’s questions that he had prayed or been to a meeting. Still Tom continued, for his spirit was so burdened with unrest. One Friday evening Tom went to a prayer meeting. The meeting opened with the hymn: “Come ye sinners, poor and needy/Weak and wounded, sick and sore.” Tom realized this was exactly who he was and determined in his heart “to come now to Jesus, and trust in him.” When the call came for anxious souls to come to the altar and pray, Tom went.
These are his words: “While Jack Cammon was praying for me, and for those who knelt by my side, my burden of sorrow, which had so long weighed me down, was removed. I felt the glory of God’s love warming my heart, and making me very happy. I shouted aloud for joy, and tried to tell all my poor slave brothers and sisters, who were in the house, what a dear Saviour I had found, and how happy I felt in his precious love. Binney Pennison asked me if I could forgive my master. I told him I could, and did, and that I could pray God forgive him, too, and make him a good man. He asked me if I could tell my master of the change in my feelings. I told him I should tell him in the morning.
“’And what will you do if he whips you for still praying and going to meetings?’
“I said, ‘I will ask Jesus to help me bear the pain, and to forgive my master for being so wicked.’
“He then said, ‘Well then, Brother Jones, I believe you are a Christian.’”
The next day, when Tom went to the store, he first told James what had happened to him the night before. James called him a fool and said he was going to be whipped. When the master came and found out that Tom had attended the meeting, he promised a beating. Tom began to take off his shirt but his master told him to leave it on. “He whipped me over my jacket; but I enjoyed so much peace of mind that I scarcely felt the cowhide. This was the last whipping that Mr. Jones inflicted upon me.”
“ “’And what will you do if he whips you for still praying and going to meetings?’ ”
“ “I said, ‘I will ask Jesus to help me bear the pain, and to forgive my master for being so wicked.’ ”
Thomas Jones was now 18 years old. He asked to join the local congregation of slaves and was put into an instruction class. When the class ended after six months, he became a member. He could now read and write as well. He read and reread his Bible. His desire was to obey it despite his intense longing to be free.
“I considered that eighteen hundred years had gone by since Jesus plead for man’s redemption and salvation, and, going up to heaven, has left His work of mercy to be finished by His children, and then I thought that I and thousands of my brothers and sisters, loving the Lord and pressing on to a blessed and endless home in His presence, were slaves—branded, whipped, chained; deeply, hopelessly degraded—thus degraded and outraged, too, in a land of bibles and sabbaths and churches, and by professed followers of the Lord of Love. And often such thoughts were too much for me. In an agony of despair, I have at times given up prayer and hope together, believing that my master’s words were true, that ‘religion is a cursed mockery, and the Bible a lie.’
“May God forgive me for doubting, at such times, his justice and love. There was but one thing that saved me from going at once and fully into dark infidelity, which such agony assailed my bleeding heart—the memory of seasons of unspeakable joy in prayer, when love and faith were strong in my heart. The sweet remembrance of these dear hours would draw me back to Jesus and to peace in his mercy. Oh, that all true Christians knew just how the slave feels in view of the religion of this country, by whose sanction men and women are bound, branded, bought and sold!”
“ '...Oh, that all true Christians knew just how the slave feels in view of the religion of this country, by whose sanction men and women are bound, branded, bought and sold!' ”
After Tom’s conversion, his master seemed to regret his earlier cruel treatment of Tom, and allowed him to attend meetings without any repercussions. Tom longed to marry and start his own family, knowing the consequences that would likely tear them apart just as had happened with his parents and brothers and sisters. Nevertheless, he married Lucilla Smith who was a slave to Mrs. Moore. They had their own cabin and made many happy memories there, thanking God for their life together, asking that He keep them together. Soon they had three babies, and planned to teach them how to read and write.
Lucilla was an excellent seamstress and made all of her mistress’ dresses. After a few years, Mrs. Moore moved to Newbern, a town 76 miles away. The children were four, two, and under one. Tom felt as though his life was over, so heavy was his grief after their departure. After 18 months, they passed through Wilmington again, and spent one last night together. The next day, Mrs. Moore, Lucilla, and the children boarded a boat for Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Tom would never see or hear from them again.
When Thomas was 23, his owner—Mr. Jones—died. Thomas was purchased by Owen Holmes for $435. Though broken-hearted over the loss of his family, Tom began to make plans that would change his life. He would begin to preach.
To be continued on March 10…
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