author
Moses Grandy
Born into slavery in North Carolina, he fought for his freedom and then turned his life story into a powerful argument against slavery. His brief memoir remains one of the clearest firsthand accounts of forced labor on the waterways and in the Great Dismal Swamp region.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born around 1786 in Camden County, North Carolina, Moses Grandy spent more than forty years enslaved. He worked in punishing conditions, including labor connected to the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, and became a skilled waterman and seaman along the Albemarle Sound and nearby waterways.
After repeated struggles to secure lasting freedom, he finally bought himself free and became active in the antislavery movement. Accounts of his life note that he also worked to help purchase the freedom of family members, giving his activism a deeply personal urgency.
His story was published in 1843 as Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy, Late a Slave in the United States of America. Because he did not learn to read or write, Grandy related his experiences orally and the memoir was written down for publication. The result is a direct, memorable witness to slavery's brutality and to Grandy's determination, courage, and moral clarity.