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Excerpt from Thomas Johnson slave narrative

Thomas Johnson was born as a slave in Virginia. After slavery was ended in 1865, he became a minister and traveled to Africa and England to convert others to Christianity. In this excerpt he describes the risk that slaves had to take to meet in prayer groups and sing hymns and spirituals. Johnson mentions the Jubilee Singers, a group of black musicians who performed spirituals in concerts around America and Europe after the Civil War. From Thomas L. Johnson (Thomas Lewis), b. 1836? Twenty-Eight Years a Slave, or The Story of My Life in Three Continents. Bournemouth, Eng.: W. Mate & Sons, 1909.Original source available from UNC Libraries / Documenting the American South.