Four Interesting Black American Historical Figures In The Novel An Intrigue Of Witches

Learn more about four Black American historical figures who play a pivotal role in the mystery, An Intrigue Of Witches. Meet Thomas Day, Benjamin Banneker, George Moses Horton and Joshua Johnston… intriguing men of color from America’s past.

by Esme Addison

I’ve always enjoyed learning about history. And when I write, there is almost always a mystery based in the past. When I wrote An Intrigue Of Witches, I knew I wanted to create a National Treasure style adventure and mystery that explored not only American history, but black American history.

This novel, the first in the Secret Society Mystery series follows a black female historian named Sidney Taylor who has been working at the Smithsonian for the past couple of years, but goes to a small (fictional) town outside of New Bern, North Carolina to find an ancient artifact mentioned in a mystery from the American Revolution. There’s also a history of witch hunts from Scotland and a bit of magic.

A character from the past named Josiah Willoughby (based on Thomas Day who is discussed in this article) used his friends (the men featured here) to hide clues in the past which my heroine, much like Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage’s character) has to find in the present.

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I’m from North Carolina, and we have a rich history which I often share in my stories. An Intrigue Of Witches includes several real North Carolina-born historical figures. It’s always my hope when I write stories, that I inspire the reader to learn more about the real people mentioned in my plots. To that end, in honor of African-American History Month, I’d like to talk about four of the black American historical figures mentioned in my fantasy and science fiction mystery, An Intrigue Of Witches.

Two of them were born free during a period when many black and brown people were enslaved. They were wealthy, well-educated and respected members of their community. And two were enslaved but achieved their freedom and went on to monetize their artistic gifts, a feat that many can not do today. All were extraordinarily talented, and lived lives and had occupations that may not have been the norm for men of any ethnic background.

Thomas Day: The Master Craftsman of Furniture

I’ve known about Thomas Day for awhile. After college, I completed a PR internship at a film studio in Yanceyville, NC. At the time it was the first or only black film studio in North Carolina and one of a handful in the US. And Thomas’ hometown of Milton was on the drive to the studio. Ironically, driving from the Raleigh-area, I also had to drive near Pittsboro, home to George Moses Horton.

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Thomas’ workshop still stands, and I was fascinated by his life. He was a free man of color – born free – a wealthy business owner who hired journeymen, and owned slaves as many people of his class did at the time. A census in 1850 showed he owned 14 enslaved men and women, and they worked in his workshop as craftsmen as well as his fields and lumberyards. He was also known to have attended Philadelphia’s Fifth Annual Convention for the Improvement of the Free People of Color in the United States, an abolitionist event for people of color. But his artistry was unsurpassed, and his work ethic and perfectionism renowned. He created furniture for the elite and ruling class.

Thomas Day is not named in my book, but one of the main characters, Josiah Willoughby is 100% completely inspired by him with most of his backstory and profession intact. All of it is true except Josiah was involved in espionage with the American Revolution – not Thomas Day (at least I don’t think so). That’s all my imagination.

Another fun fact? My mother bought a Thomas Day chair at an estate chair a decade ago. Amazing that she has a piece of history in her home. At any rate, let’s learn more about Thomas.

Born in 1801 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, Thomas Day moved to Milton, North Carolina, where he became one of the South’s most successful furniture makers.

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His furniture, known for its quality and style, included pieces like the Grecian couch and various chairs that reflected both classical and contemporary designs. His work can be seen in several historical collections, highlighting his influence in Southern furniture design.

Day operated his workshop in Milton, North Carolina, where he not only built furniture but also engaged in community leadership, advocating for education and rights for black Americans. His legacy is one of craftsmanship and economic empowerment in a time of severe racial segregation.

I wish there was an image of what Thomas looked like, but though the NC Museum of History has a statue depicting his likeness, there are apparently no image of him to date.

Learn more about Thomas Day.

Benjamin Banneker: The Almanac Author

I remember learning about Benjamin Banneker in elementary school. I completed a book report on him, and have always been fascinated by his achievements, especially his work in astronomy. He is probably most famous for his almanacs. And I use a copy of his work in my novel to hide a clue.

Born on November 9, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland, Benjamin Banneker was a self-taught mathematician, astronomer, and surveyor. Banneker’s most celebrated achievement was his series of almanacs. These were not just any almanacs; they were among the first published by an Black American in the United States, challenging the racial prejudices of the time.

His work included astronomical calculations, weather forecasts, and tide tables, which were remarkably accurate for the era. His almanacs also became platforms for advocating against slavery, including writings from abolitionists and his own correspondence with Thomas Jefferson on racial equality. By 1789, he expanded his scientific pursuits by accurately predicting a solar eclipse through his own astronomical calculations.

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Benjamin Banneker spent the bulk of his life on his family’s 100-acre farm near Baltimore, where he self-taught himself astronomy by observing the stars and mastered advanced mathematics through borrowed books. In 1752, he became celebrated for crafting a clock entirely from wood, believed to be the first of its kind in America, which kept accurate time for many years.

By 1789, Banneker was making astronomical predictions, including a successful forecast of a solar eclipse, which even contradicted the calculations of more recognized mathematicians and astronomers at the time.

His mechanical and mathematical expertise caught the attention of many, including Thomas Jefferson, leading to Banneker’s involvement in surveying the new capital, Washington, D.C. In his spare time, Banneker started compiling the “Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris,” which ran from 1791 to 1802. His almanacs were rich with medical advice, tide tables, and astronomical data, all calculated by Banneker himself.

On August 19, 1791, Banneker mailed his first almanac to Thomas Jefferson, then the Secretary of State. Along with it, he included a letter challenging Jefferson’s commitment to liberty while owning slaves, urging him to advocate for abolition. Jefferson’s response acknowledged Banneker’s abilities and expressed his conflicted views on slavery:

“…no body [sic] wishes more sincerely than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colours of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa & America…” (Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker, August 30, 1791. Thomas Jefferson Papers, Manuscript Division)

Jefferson concluded by mentioning he had shared Banneker’s almanac with the French philosopher Marquis de Condorcet to help combat racial prejudices.

Banneker spent much of his life on his family farm near Ellicott’s Mills, Maryland, where he conducted his astronomical observations and mathematical studies. He died in 1806, with much of his work including his clock suspiciously lost in a fire on the day of his funeral.

My main character, Sidney Taylor uses a copy of Benjamin Banneker’s almanac to help her get out of a jam.

Learn more about Benjamin Banneker.

Joshua Johnson: America’s First Black Professional Painter

Before I began my research for An Intrigue Of Witches, I’d never hear of Joshua Johnson (sometimes written as Johnston). Initially, I thought I’d use an item from Phyllis Wheatley to hide a clue (and maybe I’ll do that in a later book) but she’s been written about, and I feel most people – or at least students of literature should have hear heard of her. So I kept looking for a lesser known black American artist to use in my story.

I came across a pioneer in art – in painting to be exact – a man that was new to me. And such a shame that I’d never heard of him, because he was certainly an important man in his time and significant as a figure in – not just black or African-American history – but American history.

Johnson had an interesting aesthetic to his drawing. It was simplistic and linear, but typical of self-taught artists in the early-American period.

Joshua Johnson, a free Black man during the time of slavery, was active around 1796 to 1824, and is considered America’s first known professional Black American artist. Documents from July 25, 1782, reveal that Joshua Johnson was born to a white father and an enslaved Black mother, who was owned by William Wheeler, Sr., a modest farmer in Baltimore. His father, George Johnson, legally purchased Joshua at the age of 19 from Wheeler, as evidenced by a bill of sale from October 6, 1764.

The purchase price was £25, significantly below the typical cost for an enslaved male field worker. There’s scant information on Joshua’s mother, not even her name, suggesting she was likely one of the two women Wheeler enslaved, one of whom had two children. George Johnson later issued a manumission document, recognizing Joshua as his son and stipulating that Joshua would gain his freedom either upon completing an apprenticeship with blacksmith William Forepaugh or upon reaching the age of 21, whichever occurred first.

This document was officially acknowledged by Colonel John Moale, a justice of the peace, who later, between 1798 and 1800, commissioned Johnson to paint a portrait of his wife and granddaughter, titled “Mrs. John Moale and Her Granddaughter, Ellin North Moale.”

Johnson received his freedom in 1782 and began advertising, identifying himself as a portrait painter and limner as of 1796. A limner is an artist that illuminates or decorates manuscripts. He moved frequently, residing often where other artists, specifically chair-makers, lived, which suggests that he may have provided extra income for himself by painting chairs. I found this interesting since Thomas Day created chairs, I imagined that he may have known Thomas Day, and hence my idea that Josiah Willoughby and Joshua Johnson knew each other is plausible.

In my novel, An Intrigue of Witches, I use Johnson’s skill as both a painter and limner as part of the mystery.

Johnson’s work is significant for providing rare visual documentation of Black American life and for his depiction of the Black middle class in Maryland during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, primarily portraits, offer insight into the lives of Black Americans and whites, capturing the nuances of class and race in early America.

His portraits often adorned with detailed clothing and settings, like “The Westwood Children” and “Little Sarah Ann Johnson,” show Johnson’s skill in capturing individuality and emotion, which was rare for the period. His paintings are now held in several prestigious collections, including the National Gallery of Art.

Johnson lived and worked in Baltimore, Maryland, where he painted portraits for a living, primarily for the burgeoning merchant class. Johnson’s paintings are included in prominent collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. 

Learn more about Joshua Johnson.

George Moses Horton: The Poet Laureate of Slavery

Discovering George Moses Horton was probably my biggest research surprise. He lived and died about 30 minutes away from me and I thought I’d never heard of him. But. Growing up my mother would tell me about her high school called Horton High. And how the principal was named Mr. Horton. I never thought much about that until I discovered America’s first published black poet was from North Carolina and his name was George Moses Horton.

My mother’s high school was named for him because it was in Pittsboro, NC where George was from. Originally, the school was created for people of color and called Horton Consolidated School then Horton High School.

George Moses Horton, born in 1798 and died in 1883 was a Black American poet from North Carolina, who remained enslaved until he was liberated by Union soldiers carrying the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865. Horton holds the distinction of being the first Black American to have his work published in the United States, unlike Phillis Wheatley, whose poetry was published in the United Kingdom. He is also credited with authoring the first book of literature published in North Carolina, earning him the moniker “The Slave Poet.”.

His collections “The Hope of Liberty” (1829) and “Naked Genius” (1865) are notable. “The Hope of Liberty” was particularly groundbreaking as it was published while he was still enslaved, with proceeds used to buy his freedom. His work often explored themes of liberty, love, and the stark realities of being enslaved.

Horton lived near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was known to sell his poems to students at the University of North Carolina. He eventually gained his freedom during the Civil War and continued to write until his death in 1883.

In An Intrigue Of Witches, George is a friend of Josiah Willoughby, and he uses his skills to hide a clues.

Learn more about George Moses Horton.

As I work on the second book in the series which will publish in 2027, I look forward to revisiting these characters, and finding more interesting figures from American history to intrigue my readers.