Real Time Photos First Black Residents of Hannibal were Enslaved Africans Jim's Journey Huck Finn Freedom Center ~ Hannibal, Missouri
HENRY AND OLDEST SON, CHARLES DANT, PHOTO CIRCA 1925
Henry recounts, “We worked hard on de farm. I cradled wheat and plowed corn often till midnight. We often drove hogs to Palmyra and Hannibal.”
When Henry’s brother died his workload increased as he was “de only colored man on de place.” Yet he still found time to work for his family, “I played a fiddle for all de weddings and parties in de neighborhood. Dey paid me fifteen or twenty cents each time and I had money in my pockets all de time.”
Henry recalled his emancipation in his narrative, “When we was set free dey gave us a side of meat and a bushel of meal. Dat’s all we got.”
After that, Henry was freed and moved to Marion County where he lived with his oldest son, Charlie Dant. He died in 1939.
Real Time Photos First Black Residents of Hannibal were Enslaved Africans Jim's Journey Huck Finn Freedom Center ~ Hannibal, Missouri
HENRY AND OLDEST SON, CHARLES DANT, PHOTO CIRCA 1925
Henry recounts, “We worked hard on de farm. I cradled wheat and plowed corn often till midnight. We often drove hogs to Palmyra and Hannibal.”
When Henry’s brother died his workload increased as he was “de only colored man on de place.” Yet he still found time to work for his family, “I played a fiddle for all de weddings and parties in de neighborhood. Dey paid me fifteen or twenty cents each time and I had money in my pockets all de time.”
Henry recalled his emancipation in his narrative, “When we was set free dey gave us a side of meat and a bushel of meal. Dat’s all we got.”
After that, Henry was freed and moved to Marion County where he lived with his oldest son, Charlie Dant. He died in 1939.