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Moses Roper

Moses Roper ( – April 15, 1891) was an African American who is best known as an abolitionist, author and orator active in England and the British Isles in the mid-1830s and 1840s. His memoir, known as a slave narrative, had numerous editions and sold nearly 40,000 copies, including 5,000 in Welsh.

He had escaped from slavery in Florida in 1834, went North, and migrated overseas the next year. He had gained introductions to abolitionists in England, and became educated. He wrote an influential memoir, ''Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper from American Slavery.'' First published in 1837, it was unique in England for being written by an American fugitive slave. Roper revised the book numerous times in further editions through 1848. He added extensive appendices and documentation to support his account.

As an activist, Roper gave thousands of lectures in Great Britain and Ireland, speaking from firsthand experience about the brutality of American slavery.

He later migrated with his family to Canada, where his three younger daughters were born. After living there for several years, the family returned to England before 1861. Roper returned alone to the US and toured as a lecturer. Later in life, he worked as a laborer. He died in 1891 in Boston. Provided by Wikipedia