Samuel Ringgold Ward

The rediscovery of a pivotal figure in Black history and his importance and influence in the struggle against slavery and discrimination

Born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Samuel Ringgold Ward (1817–c. 1869) escaped enslavement and became a leading figure in the struggle for Black freedom, citizenship, and equality. He was extolled by his contemporary, Frederick Douglass, for his “depth of thought, fluency of speech, readiness of wit, logical exactness.” Until now, his story has been largely untold.

Ward, a newspaper editor, Congregational minister, and labour organiser, was considered one of the leading orators of his time. After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, he fled to Canada, where he lectured widely to improve conditions for the people who had settled there. Ward then went to Britain as an agent of the Canadian Antislavery Society and published his influential book Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro. He never returned to the United States and died in obscurity in Jamaica.

Despite Ward’s prominent role in the abolitionist movement, his story has been lost due to the decades he spent in exile. In Samuel Ringgold Ward, R. J. M. Blackett sheds light on Ward’s life, his vital role in the struggle against slavery and discrimination, and the personal price he paid for confronting oppression.