A Plausible Man

“A Plausible Man” by Susanna Ashton captivated me as soon as I heard about it because it’s the true story of the escaped enslaved person who inspired ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852). My first thought was oh… this is about Josiah Henson, who emancipated himself from enslavement and then moved to Canada and became a preacher, and is widely regarded as the inspiration for the character of Uncle Tom. Harriet Beecher Stowe also wrote his autobiography for him that was published in 1858 by John P Jewett, also Stowe’s publisher, who cashed in majorly on UTC and for many years, kept a lot of the profits he wasn’t entitled to and stiffed her on that, but this is a different story.

This book is actually about a person I had never heard of. This is the story of Stowe having hid a fugitive enslaved person in her and her husband’s home in Brunswick, Maine, in December of 1850. I’ll have to double check and see if this was around the same time Stowe started to write her serialized form of the novel UTC before it was collected in 1852 and published altogether as a novel. In any case, a ‘friendly neighbor’ had sent the fugitive enslaved man over to Stowe’s house, and even though it was a criminal act to open the door to a Black man in 1850, she let him in. He stayed for one night, but during that time, made “an impression upon both Stowe and her children, singing and entertaining them all and telling Stowe about his hardships.” It’s thought that he also showed Stowe his scars and wounds that he received while being enslaved on a plantation. He spoke of the wife and child he had left behind, from ‘Ole Carliny State,’ which I’m guessed was one of the Carolinas?

Aha — and this is the crux. In the new year, about two months after Stowe provided shelter and safe haven for this man while he went on the move to find freedom, she began writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

The man was fleeing to Canada, but she didn’t name him. He went by John Andrew Jacson, which could have been an assumed name to protect his identity, which is something I reflected on as I was reading this introduction to the work.

The reality of Jackon’s story is that his wife and daughter were ‘sent away’ from him which means they were sold to another plantation. He feld on horseback across the South Carolina landscape until he reached Charleston. I want readers to reflect on hos he got onto a northbound ship.

He eventually secured the patronage of the British Baptist Evangelicals who assisted him in publishing his memoirs, “The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina” in 1862.

He actually returned to the United States for 35 years as an advocate for freed people. He collected donations, lecutred across America after the Civil War, and attempted to purchase back his enslaver’s family land to resettle 40 Black families for communal farming. He was arrsested in North Carolina in 1880 and sentenced to hard labour in a convinct work gang, possibly in peonage, and though in his mid-50s at this point, escaped.

“How do we tell a tale of the nineteenth century and of people who sought to disappear?” They didn’t want to be in the archival record because they didn’t want their former enslavers or bounty hunters who worked overtime to catch people who had been free in status and force them into enslavement (as with Solomon Northup). They didn’t want to draw attention to themselves to get thrown in prison, or worse. And yet we have this remarkable story of Jackson, withs its gaps in the archive, and it is one that demands to be told.

The author undertook a ton of research and work in compiling this book, including to connect with some of Jackson’s descendents.

As well, the author brings up the very good point that when enslavers were taking out advertisements for runaway enslaved people, they would add in things that if someone were to find him, not to listen to him, because he ‘speaks plausibly.’ “Cautioning white readers against the duplicitous nature of fugitives was a relatively common rhetorical technique in advertisements.” It heightened suspicion, and forced the idea that Black people could not have a ‘sincereity’ of character.

The author has made the intentional decision to use the term ‘slave labor camp’ instead of plantation, and it’s an interesting choice. I’m very aware of the debate that has been going on in historian circles raised by Kidada E Williams, who in her own recent book called for a change to the term ‘plantation’ and all of its positive associations for white listeners who picture ‘Gone with the Wind’ and to rename them as labour camps instead to reflect the true nature of what these places were, and to de-romanticize white people’s associations. She did receive some pushback on that, and I understand that it’s a very nuanced and complex issue and I am by no means an expert. iny any case, it was an interesting decision and I took note of it.

Of particular interest are some of the archival documents and photographs the author discovered in the research for this book that she has had printed here as images.

The author does a very thorough and comprehensive job outlining the landscape of the time, Lynchburg in South Carolina, and showing the earliest records we know of Jackson’s life.

In terms of stylistics, this is the kind of bookt hat I would not recommend for a lay reader. It’s not too much on the side with academic language and the writing itself is usually pretty clear, but it’s also dense in terms of historical details, so the reader needs to be super invested in this in order to extrapolate things.

I think that Jackson should also get his own documentary or perhaps a film, as well. His truly is a remarkable story, and it is one that has not been well known for many years, and deserves to have much wider recognition.

The book does a very good job in exploring who Jackson was as a human being, and doesn’t mythologize him or present him in a way that would be maybe not the best way.

There’s also information about the Salem Black River Church, founded in 1759, rebuilt in 1846. Jackson may have assisted in its buliding. After the Civil War, the parishioners of the church moved on to Goodwill Presbyterian Church. And in this section, the author also makes sure to explain that church services were “highly surveilled and disciplined events for enslaved people to attend.” However, the camp revival meetings that took place outdoors over several days could offer “spiritual relief and solace in an entirely different way, and could often be flexible in welcoming different denominations.”

Readers will also get important archival documents such as slave ledgers or a “slave schedule” and the advertisements used in order to try to recapture Jackson.

Very importantly, the book also chronicles how Jackson planned his escape, the barriers and danger he ran into, and how he ultimately succeeded and found his way to Stowe before moving elsewhere.

There’s even an image reproduction of a letter Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote to her sister, Catharine Beecher, who told of a fugitive who had ‘made his way into her town and whom she hid in her home.’

This book is just… endlessly fascinating. It’s a treasure trove for readers who have been studying in this area, and from a cross-departmental thing where you’ve got English and Literature interested because of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the scholarship on that, as well as the people who have always wondered — yes, but how did Harriet Beecher Stowe do her research when she had never met an enslaved person (and now it turns out that she had). Although that’s a separate kettle of fish, you also have the historians who are interested and those who have studied fugitive enslaved people. You have other disciplines who are interested as well.

Please buy this book. It is amazing.

Thank you The New Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. No review was required in return for an advance reading copy and no review was promised.

I just finished A Plausible Man: The True Story of the Escaped Slave Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Susanna Ashton.

Last winter, I was watching an episode of The Jeffersons, in which Louise’s uncle was explaining to Lionel, about Josiah Henson, who was the attributed to be the inspiration for Uncle Tom’s Cabin. That got me interested in Henson’s life and I read several books on him. So, when I saw the title of this one, I was intrigued.

But, then I saw in the description that it was about a man named John Andrew Jackson. So that peaked my curiosity even more. Who is this Jackson, how does he relate to Henson’s story. I didn’t remember that name being mentioned in my readings about Henson. Could there have been two different men who both inspired the story? Would this other book even mention Henson or it would just pursue Jackson’s story, just like the books on Henson didn’t mention Jackson?

It turns out there was a simple explanation for that mystery. Stowe acknowledged that they had used a lot of Henson’s experiences, from his autobiography, for the character of Uncle Tom. But, it is uncertain whether she ever met him or, if they met, what the extent of things were. Meanwhile, Jackson was an escaped slave who spent a single night in Stowe’s home and, in that time, made a very big impression on her. Stowe did confirm meeting Jackson.

So, it appears that both men have claims to be an inspiration for the book, instead of just a sole inspirator.

Unfortunately, figuring out the answer to the mystery was the most interesting aspect to this book. The book just wasn’t interesting enough. So, I must just give this one a C. Amazon, Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a C equates to 2 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews. It will also be posted at Amazon, as soon as the book is released to the public on August 6.