Samuel Ringgold Ward was born in the State of Maryland about the year 1817. His parents fled from slavery to Isew York, earning Samuel, in his infancy. His early education was received in connection with the African Free School, of that city, which was then taught by a gentleman of Scotch descent, Mr. C. C. Andrew. General Lafayette, on September 10, 1824, paid this school a visit, and placing his hands on the heads of all the boys present, gave them a hearty '''God Bless You." Ward took early to public speaking, and very soon became a lecturer of the anti-Slavery cause. During a stay in England he put forth, in book form, “The Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro”, which embraced not only the facts about his own life, but an exact statement of the slave question in America. It was among the very ablest expositions of the relation of the races in this country.
