"My Name is Not Tom" by historian Susan Cooke Soderberg is a corrective to the enduring myth that the Reverand Josiah Henson's life inspired Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This biography uses new primary source research to fill in the untold parts of his extraordinary life, first as an enslaved person living in Maryland, through to his escape to Canada and beyond. Read on for a Q&A with the author to learn about what sparked her interest in this topic; what this book adds to the existing literature on Henson; and the most interesting parts of the research process.

What initially sparked your interest in Josiah Henson?

While I was working for my County as a public historian I was asked to research a property being considered for purchase by the County called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” that was associated with Josiah Henson. I found that all of the previous biographies of Henson were based entirely on his autobiographies. I was fascinated by the man, but knew that there was much more to his story. After I retired I began to do intensive primary source research and to walk in his footsteps to learn more about him.

What gap does this book fill in the current literature on Henson—how does it “dispel that myth” surrounding Henson and address misconceptions about his life and work?

Since the autobiographies were highly embellished by his publishers it was sometimes a matter of subtracting fact from fiction. Also, Henson left out many details about his life and mis-remembered some dates and sequences of events that took place 40 or 50 years earlier. I discovered that, even though he could write his name and read a printed book or newspaper, he could not read or write script. This accounts for his having someone else read letters to him and write answers for him as well as aversion to signing contracts.

What was the most interesting part of the research process for you? What type of sources did you find the most helpful?

Land records, wills and Court records can reveal so much about an individual. The sales of and manumissions of enslaved people can often be found there. I love reading old newspapers because the journalists wrote down every detail and every word of a speech, even adding when the audience laughed or clapped. That is where I found the title for my book: Tired of constantly being referred to as “the real Uncle Tom” on a hundred-stop book tour around London arranged by his publisher, Henson escaped to Scotland where he began his speech, “My name is not Tom. It is Josiah Henson.”