facimile reprint of the 1865 edition

George Moses Horton was a black man who lived in slavery in Chatham County from 1800 to 1865. He learned to read and write when it was against the law. With the help of a professor’s wife at UNC, he published two books of poems. He sold love poems to college students at a farmers market in Chapel Hill.Horton was never able to purchase his freedom. In 1865 he left Chatham County with Union soldiers and went north to freedom. He published a third book, Naked Genius, while living in Raleigh. He ended his days in Philadelphia.


In April 1865 Horton marched for three months with a Michigan Calvalry Unit. At the time he was 68 years old