Article on David Blight & A SLAVE NO MORE in Daily Press

Newly discovered memoirs open a closed chapter of a slave's life
By RUSTY DENNEN
The Free Lance-Star, November 25, 2007

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - In the spring of 1862, slave John Washington stood along the Fredericksburg shore of the Rappahannock River, about to embark on what he had yearned for all his life _ his journey to freedom.

Washington's granddaughter, Ruth Washington, and great-great-granddaughter, Maureen Ramos, stood at the same spot earlier this month, at what is now Old Mill Park. They came to pay their respects to a man they are just now beginning to know.

At dusk, under a crisp autumn sky, Ruth Washington, 89, looked out at the water.

"I can visualize my grandfather, trying to get across to freedom. For him to pursue and be persistent to become a free man," she said. "That's what he wanted. His story to be told."

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