James Mars

James Mars was an American author and community leader, born on March 3, 1790, in Canaan, Connecticut. Enslaved as a child, he later gained his freedom in 1811 and went on to become an important voice in Connecticut's Black community.

He is best known for his memoir, Life of James Mars, a Slave Born and Sold in Connecticut, Written by Himself, first published in 1864. The book stands out for its firsthand description of slavery in the North, showing that bondage was not limited to the South and preserving details of his family's efforts to resist separation and forced removal.

Mars also became known as a political activist and church leader in Hartford. Remembered for both his writing and his public work, he helped leave behind a rare and valuable personal record of slavery, freedom, and Black civic life in 19th-century Connecticut.