I am Leonard Grimes, a black man born in 1815. Unlike others around this time period I was born to free parents. I was a mixed child, and people tended to regard me as a boy with a bright future. Being born in Leesburg, Virginia my freedom wasn't always secure, and it was subject to change at any moment. When I was a young teen we moved to Washington D.C where I worked as a butcher and an apothecary. I had to build up enough money to help support my family and to officially register myself as a free black man around the age of 20, even though I was born free.
I started to travel all around for work. I eventually ended up working for a slave holder in the deep south. Here I saw the atrocities and horrors of slavery. It was because I was free that allowed me to sympathize with the slaves. So I decided that I was going to use my freedom, to help others, I vowed to combat slavery. I became a conductor of the underground rail road unbeknownst to my family. I had a wife Octavia and four kids: Emma, John, Leonard Jr, and Julia, but at the time I only had two kids. As a conductor I had to have a solid coverup for this job. So I established myself as a prominent hackney driver. I transported politicians, professionals, and many other people around Washington D.C. In 1839, I got caught and sentenced to two years in prison. It was a surprise to many people because I was rather popular among blacks and whites at the time. Lucky for me I purchased my own property well before my arrest, so my family had a stable place to stay and didn't have to worry about the unjust persecution of the slaveholders.
In 1846 after I was released I moved my family to New Bedford Massachusetts in search of a new job, and stable living. Around this time whaling was very popular, but after being in jail my connection to the spiritual only grew deeper. I went on a trip to Boston in 1848 which was an abolitionist hotbed, this is where a congregation was in need of a minister. So I decided to step up to the plate with my faith, and drive to combat slavery to become a trial minister. I was so good that I ended up becoming a Baptist minister and a pastor of the new Twelve Baptist Church. The church became known as the "Fugitive's Church", because many of our members escaped from slavery. Then in 1850 the infamous Fugitive Slave Act was passed. The entire church was no longer safe, and it was a risk that the church was so well known.
Everything was good enough until 1854 when one of the men who was in the church's district was captured. His name was Anthony Burns, and I figured that if we can save this one man, then we can make a statement for the entire race. We tried directly to free him from the Boston jail, but that didn't go as planned. His trial was famous, and really brought attention to the slave act. Burns lost his case, but I wasn't planning on stopping there, I led a fundraiser which raised 1,300 dollars and then traveled to Baltimore Maryland myself to purchase his freedom from a slave holder. After that, nobody persecuted fugitive slaves in Boston.
When the civil war broke out I was invited to serve as the the norths chaplain. In other words, President Lincoln invited me to be on the clergy for the armed forces. This was a little above me, and I had developed an attachment to my church so I declined the offer. After the war and the 13th amendment I had worked to help the free men and women. I lived to see the 14th amendment granting life, liberty and property, and the 15th amendment right to vote for black men. I think I did a fair share of good in my life, that being said on March 14 1873, at the age of 60 I had been laid to rest.
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