Documentary & Book Talk: Jared Brock - The Road to Dawn
This sweeping biography immortalizes the man who was the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in an epic tale of courage and bravery in the face of unimaginable trials.
Josiah Henson overcame incredible odds to escape from slavery and improve the lives of hundreds of freedmen throughout his long life. He found international fame--including visits to Windsor Castle and the White House--as the real "Uncle Tom" in the novel that fueled the abolitionist movement and ignited the Civil War. But his story has been mostly lost to history, until now.
To accompany THE ROAD TO DAWN and to be released simultaneously is Brock’s 39-minute documentary film JOSIAH. The film is narrated by actor and activist Danny Glover and includes interviews with leading experts on slavery and abolition, as well as two of Henson’s descendants. With both the book and the film, Brock has created a comprehensive portrait that restores a hero of the abolitionist movement to his rightful place in history—a hero whose life speaks of a love of humanity and invites us to follow in his steps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgJ8aymNRFs
A major literary moment: after being lost to history for more than a century, The Road to Dawn uncovers the incredible story of the real-life slave who inspired Uncle Tom's Cabin.
-He rescued 118 enslaved people
-He won a medal at the first World's Fair in London
-Queen Victoria invited him to Windsor Castle
