For ten years, William A. Smith and his family had lived in Canada, probably on the Wilberforce Settlement, a community of former American slaves. After Smith's wife died in 1840, this resourceful man moved to New York City with his four children. He found work as a seaman, one of the best occupations available to black men. Being a seaman meant fairly good wages, fairly good treatment, and usually the company of other black crew members. Smith signed on for a voyage that would take him to the slave-holding city of New Orleans, then to Liverpool and Havre -- the great Atlantic cotton route. Smith's income permitted him to board his children in the relative safety of the Colored Orphan Asylum.

To read more about William A. Smith, see Unit 1 of the classroom materials, p. 65. Download here.