He escaped slavery at about age 21, settling in Rochester, New York, and then British North America.

Initially he worked for Darius Comstock, president of the Manumission Society, and took classes to increase his education.

[1] According to his autobiography, he gave a speech on July 5, 1827, the celebration of final emancipation of slaves in New York, and gained press coverage of the event.

Wilberforce Colony struggled, however, with internal divisions and financial difficulties, and he eventually returned, nearly destitute,[2] to Rochester in 1837.

It is considered a slave narrative, detailing his early life of enslavement and escape, as well as his years of freedom and work at Wilberforce Colony.

In the years before the American Civil War, such books sometimes became bestsellers in the North, and abolitionists drew from them in their arguments against the cruelties of slavery.