Solomon Bayley facts for kids

Solomon Bayley (around 1771 – around 1839) was an African American man who was born into slavery but later gained his freedom. He is famous for his book, A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents in the Life of Solomon Bayley, published in London in 1825. This book is one of the first slave narratives written by people who escaped slavery before the American Civil War.

Solomon Bayley was born enslaved in Delaware. He managed to escape and was later recaptured. However, he eventually bought his own freedom. He also worked hard to buy the freedom of his wife and children. Bayley worked as a farmer and at a sawmill. Later in life, he and his wife moved to the new colony of Liberia in 1827. There, he worked as a missionary and continued farming. He even wrote a short book about the colony, which was published in Delaware in 1833.

From Slavery to Freedom

Solomon Bayley was likely born around 1772 in Kent County, which is now part of Delaware. Like many African Americans during the 1800s, his birth and death dates were not officially recorded in the U.S. He died in Liberia. Experts like Henry Louis Gates, Jr. have estimated his birth and death years based on his autobiography.

Bayley learned that his grandmother was born in Guinea. She was captured at age eleven and brought to the Thirteen Colonies as a slave in 1690. She had fifteen children. Bayley's mother had thirteen children while enslaved by the same family. When a daughter of that family married a man from Delaware, she took Bayley's parents and other family members with her.

Later, they moved back to Virginia. Bayley's family was then split up and sold to different owners. His father, sister Margaret, and brother Abner were taken to Long Island in the West Indies. His mother escaped with a young son and reached New Jersey. It took eighteen years before Bayley saw his mother again, after he had become free.

Becoming a Skilled Worker

Bayley stayed in Delaware and was trained as a cooper, someone who makes barrels. Even though Delaware had a law against selling slaves to other states, Bayley was sold in 1799 to a man from Virginia. At this time, Bayley had already married Thamar, an enslaved woman from another plantation, and they had a nine-month-old son.

His new owner took him to Virginia, but Bayley escaped during the journey. He returned to Delaware and was briefly reunited with his wife. However, he knew he couldn't stay there. He moved to Dover and then to Camden, Delaware. After some time, his owner found him and recaptured him.

Fighting for Freedom in Court

Bayley decided to sue for his freedom in a Delaware court. He argued that he had been illegally sold out of the state. While the case was in court, his master agreed to let Bayley buy his freedom for $80.

His wife, Thamar, and their baby daughter, Margaret, were owned by a different planter in Delaware. Bayley first "hired out" his wife and child from her master. This meant he paid for their time so they could stay with him. He worked hard to save money to buy them completely. He paid her master about $103 for their freedom.

After gaining their freedom, Bayley and his wife worked as tenant farmers. He also started working in a sawmill to earn more money. Their son, Spence, had been sold earlier. In 1813, Spence was put up for auction after his master died. Prices for slaves had gone up, and Bayley worried he couldn't afford him. But white men from his Methodist church helped him. They helped him buy his son's freedom for more than $360.

As their children grew up, Bayley arranged for them to learn skills and get an education by apprenticing them to "good families." Around this time, Bayley also brought his mother from New Jersey to live with them. She lived to be very old, just like her own mother.

Sharing His Story

In 1820, Bayley met Robert Hurnard, a Quaker and abolitionist from Essex, England. Hurnard was visiting Delaware. After hearing Bayley's life story, Hurnard encouraged him to write it down and publish it. They corresponded for years, and Hurnard wrote an introduction for Bayley's book, which was published in London in 1825.

In 1821, Bayley's oldest daughter, Margaret, and youngest daughter, Leah, both died within a few months of each other. They were in their early 20s. Bayley wrote about their strong faith in their final days.

Moving to Africa

Bayley learned about Paul Cuffee, a wealthy African-American shipbuilder from Boston, Massachusetts. Cuffee believed that free Black people should move to Africa. Bayley liked this idea, but Cuffee died before his plans could fully begin.

Around this time, the American Colonization Society was formed in 1817. This group encouraged free Black people to move to a colony they created in West Africa called Liberia. Both slaveholders and people who wanted to end slavery supported this idea, but for different reasons. They thought free Black people might have more opportunities in their own society in Africa. The Society helped pay for transportation costs. While most free African Americans wanted to live in the United States and have full rights, some did choose to move.

Bayley and his wife Thamar were among those who moved. They went to Liberia in 1827 after their children were grown. Bayley became a Methodist missionary and worked as a farmer. They lived near the main settlement of Monrovia. In 1833, he published a book about the colony, describing its products and society. He hoped for a good future for African Americans in the colony.

Using the Courts for Freedom

In the 1800s, African Americans often asked different levels of government for help with various problems. When needed, they used the courts. Many individuals went to court to fight for their personal freedom and against unfair treatment. Solomon Bayley explained his decision to use the law: "I thought where the law made liberty the right of any man, he could not be wrong in trying to recover it."

Bayley threatened to take his master to court for illegally moving his family out of state and selling them in Virginia. He was successful. His master agreed to an out-of-court deal that allowed Bayley to buy his freedom over time.

Other African Americans also found success in court if their masters broke the law. For example, in areas between slave and free states, like St. Louis, Missouri, and Louisiana, hundreds of enslaved people filed freedom suits. They challenged why they were enslaved and sometimes won their freedom. The laws about slavery had some exceptions. Enslaved people claimed freedom if they had Native American ancestors (because Native American slavery was sometimes forbidden). They also claimed freedom if their masters kept them in free states longer than the law allowed. For decades before the Civil War, state courts often followed the rule "once free, always free." This changed with the Dred Scott ruling by the United States Supreme Court.

Solomon Bayley's Writings

Bayley's book, A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents in the Life of Solomon Bayley (1825), is one of the earliest slave narratives. It was published in London in 1825 and is forty-eight pages long. The book was partly based on letters between Bayley and Robert Hurnard.

In his memoir, Bayley often talks about his strong religious faith. He describes how his faith helped him during his escape, his efforts to buy freedom for his family, and other challenges. He was a Methodist who saw his life through a Christian point of view. His escape and recapture are described in detail.

Scholars have studied Bayley's book to understand how enslaved people found ways to act for themselves. One scholar noted that these stories often describe a journey from slavery to freedom, both physically and spiritually. Bayley's story mixes African and Western beliefs, showing how he didn't have to give up one to accept the other.

Bayley's Christian faith inspired him to be compassionate, even when facing difficult situations. For example, he belonged to the same Methodist church group as his wife's master, who threatened to sell Thamar and Bayley's baby daughter. Bayley wrote in his book that it was very hard:

to keep up true love and unity between him and me, in the sight of God: this was a cause of wrestling in my mind; but that scripture abode with me, 'He that loveth father or mother, wife or children, more than me, is not worthy of me; then I saw it became me to hate the sin with all my heart, but still the sinner love; but I should have fainted, if I had not looked to Jesus, the author of my faith'...

In 1833, Bayley published "A Brief Account of the Colony of Liberia." This book was based on his experiences after moving to the African colony and working there as a missionary. He felt it was his duty as a Christian to bring religion to Africa, while also seeing Liberia as a true place of freedom away from American slavery.

See also

• List of slaves