Literary Giant: George Moses Horton

Source 1

THE SLAVE'S COMPLAINT
by: George Moses Horton (c.1797-c.1883)

M I sadly cast aside,

On misfortune's rugged tide?

Will the world my pains deride

Forever?

 

Must I dwell in Slavery's night,

And all pleasure take its flight,

Far beyond my feeble sight,

Forever?

 

Worst of all, must Hope grow dim,

And withhold her cheering beam?

Rather let me sleep and dream

Forever!

 

Something still my heart surveys,

Groping through this dreary maze;

Is it Hope?--then burn and blaze

Forever!

 

Leave me not a wretch confined,

Altogether lame and blind--

Unto gross despair consigned,

Forever!

 

Heaven! in whom can I confide?

Canst thou not for all provide?

Condescend to be my guide

Forever:

 

And when this transient life shall end,

Oh, may some kind eternal friend

Bid me from servitude ascend,

Forever!

Source 2

George Moses Horton was a black man who lived in slavery in Chatham County from 1800 to 1865. During that time he was inspired by the rural countryside, the people in his life, and his experiences as a slave to make up and perform poems to express himself. 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. He hoped to save enough money to buy his freedom, and he became a symbol for people against slavery. 

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.

George Moses Horton was considered a genius in his time. Against great odds he gained literacy and was befriended by scholars, college students, university presidents, and the governor of North Carolina. He read the great classic literature of the time and lectured to students at UNC-Chapel Hill. His writing celebrates the rural beauty of Chatham County and laments the painful restrictions of slavery. His poems cover many subjects: from a joyful summer’s day to the sorrowful sale of a slave family; from declarations of love to cries for freedom; from praises for President Lincoln to pleas for brotherhood between the armies of the North and South.

In the 1930s Chatham County named a school for the poet: the Horton School, created to educate black children. This later became Horton High School. After integration in the 1970s, it became Horton Middle School. In the year 2000 the last main classroom building of the old Horton school was demolished and replaced with new facilities.

In June 1978, renewed interest in George Moses Horton led Governor Jim Hunt to declare June 28 “George Moses Horton Day.” Festivities in Chatham County included the premiere of a play, “A Man Named Moses,” by Mildred Bright-Peyton, at the Chatham County Fairgrounds. Actors were graduates of the Horton High School.

In 1996, George Moses Horton was inducted into North Carolina’s Literary Hall of Fame. In 1997 Chatham County Commissioners declared Horton “Historic Poet Laureate” of Chatham County. That same year a national organization was created in his name: the George Moses Horton Society for the Study of African American Poetry. For the first time Horton’s life and work were included in national college curricula, through the pages of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. The North Carolina Writers Network also has included Horton in its Creative Writing Workbook, Words from Home, acurriculum for middle school grades. 

In 1999, the NC Division of Archives and History approved placement of a historic marker, the first for an African American and for a nationally recognized artist in Chatham County. The marker will be placed on 15-501 near Mt. Gilead Church Road. It will read: 

 GEORGE MOSES
HORTON
ca. 1798-1883

 Slave poet. His The Hope of
Liberty (1829) was first book
by a black author in South.
Lived on farm 2 mi. SE.

 In 2000, the Chatham County Arts Council sponsored a series of educational and public events to celebrate the 200th anniversary of George Moses Horton entering Chatham County, at age three, a slave. Books and curriculum materials were donated to all public schools in Chatham County. Ongoing celebrations in 2001-2002 have included completion of a Unity Quilt Project based on a Horton poem and nomination of George Moses Horton for a U.S. Postage Stamp. Watch this site for new developments with the Arts Council’s George Moses Horton Memorial Project, the George Moses Horton Reading Series, K-12 Curriculum, and the North Carolina Literary Festival 2002.