Illiterate and enslaved, this poet persisted

Before he was free from slavery, before he even learned to write, George Moses Horton, at 32, had his first book of poetry published.

Horton was a slave living in Chatham County for 65 years, beginning when he was about 3 years old. His master was William Horton, who also owned George Horton's mother along with his nine siblings and half-siblings.

George Horton taught himself to read and later taught himself to write.

But before he learned how to write, he asked others to help transcribe his poetry as he dictated to them.

When he carried fruit to the University of North Carolina for his master, he would spout improvised poems for the students on campus to hear, and they began to offer him money, books and clothes in exchange.

He is thought to be the first black man in the South to have a book published; thus, he was known locally as "The Colored Bard of North Carolina."

Yet he was still a slave.

His first book, "The Hope of Liberty. Containing a Number of Poetical Pieces," was Horton's attempt at purchasing his freedom in 1829. A journalist in Raleigh, Joseph Gales, saw promise in the author's works and published Horton's poems under J. Gales & Son.

The plan was to collect donations from people who read Horton's works and supported his mission. And if the total sum was enough to buy Horton his freedom, then it would be sent to his master. But the book failed to bring in enough money.

"The Hope of Liberty" bound poems varied in themes of love, beauty, heaven, death and Horton's hopes of being free.

One piece in the collection, "On Liberty and Slavery," began:

Alas! and am I born for this,

To wear this slavish chain?

Deprived of all created bliss,

Through hardship, toil and pain!

How long have I in bondage lain,

And languished to be free!

Alas! and must I still complain--

Deprived of liberty.

Though he was still enslaved, his written cries for freedom fueled a second publication.

In 1845, Dennis Heartt, editor and owner of The Hillsborough Recorder newspaper, printed Horton's second book, "The Poetical Works of George M. Horton: The Colored Bard of North Carolina: To Which is Prefixed the Life of the Author, Written by Himself."

In the autobiographical introduction, Horton described the progression of his literacy and the passion with which he pursued more and more knowledge.

He learned the alphabet by heart first by hanging around schoolchildren and listening to them as they read. Horton then got his hands on some tattered spelling books, which he would take with him when he escaped to the shaded woods and read alone.

"I became fond of hearing people read; but being nothing but a poor cow-boy, I had but little or no thought of ever being able to read or spell one word or sentence in any book whatever," he wrote.

"A number strove to dissuade me from my plan, and had the presumption to tell me that I was a vain fool to attempt learning to read with as little chance as I had," he continued. But he did become fully literate later in life.

George Horton eventually escaped to freedom in 1865, when he followed Union soldiers North.

He published a third book shortly after his escape. Circa 1865, a Raleigh publisher -- William B. Smith & Co. -- printed "Naked Genius," another book of poetry.

Little is known of his life after he escaped, except that he died in Philadelphia about the early 1880s.

But Chatham County won't forget him. Horton Middle School, which was named after him, was originally a school for black children in the 1930s.

This spring, the N.C. Division of Archives and History plans to put up a state historical marker in Horton's honor at U.S. 15-501 and Mount Gilead Church Road.

Though he may not be recognized nationwide, these landmarks guarantee George Moses Horton's legacy will be forever known in North Carolina.