The extraordinary story of one couple's determination to free themselves
and their children from slavery and make a new life in Canada
Prior to abolition in 1865, as many as 40,000 men, women, and children
made the perilous trip north from enslavement in the United States to
freedom in Canada. Many were aided by networks that came to be known as
the Underground Railroad. And the stories that emerge from the past
about these journeys are truly remarkable.
In A Shadow on the Household, Bryan Prince, a descendant of slaves,
brings to life the heart-wrenching story of the Weems family and their
struggle to liberate themselves from slavery. John Weems, a man who
purchased his own freedom, paid the owner of his enslaved wife and eight
children an annual fee to keep them together at one plantation. But when
that owner died, the Weemses were cruelly separated and scattered
throughout the South. Heartbroken and desperate, John resolved to raise
the money to buy his family's freedom and reunite them. Mining
newspapers, private letters, diaries, estate records, marriage
registries, and abolitionist papers for details of a story cloaked in
secrecy, Bryan Prince has rescued the Weems family and their plight from
historical oblivion.
An unforgettable story of love and persistence, played out in four
countries (the United States, Canada, Jamaica, and the United Kingdom)
against the backdrop of the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin, a
growing abolitionist movement, and the heroic efforts of the Underground
Railroad, the Weems family saga must be read to be believed.
