Listen Live
KMJQ Featured Video
CLOSE

Benjamin Holmes was a slave and a tailor’s apprentice born around 1846. Throughout his life, he would serve many different owners. The South Carolina native was purchased by a hotel owner and moved to Tennessee. Through illegal curiosity, Holmes would teach himself to read and write by reading the signs and words on the doors until he figured out how to spell.

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_black_diaspora_news/23099