George Moses Horton was born enslaved in 1797. His original enslaver’s plantation was in Northampton County. However, as a child, his enslaver, William Horton, relocated to Chatham County bringing Horton with him. Horton’s childhood consisted of working on his enslaver’s tobacco plantation; however, Horton still found time to teach himself to read. While working the fields, Horton composed poems in his head.  In 1814, Horton’s ownership was transferred to William’s son, James, after William’s death. 

     By 20, Horton had begun visiting the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the first public university in the United States. At campus, he sold acrostic poems to students for their sweethearts. This led to Horton’s quest to buy his freedom through his poetry sales and campus labor.

    During his time at the University of North Carolina, Horton befriended Caroline Lee Hentz, a novelist and professor’s wife. Hentz helped Horton to get his first poem published. Horton’s first published poem appeared in Hentz’s hometown Massachusetts paper, the Lancaster Gazette in 1829.

     Horton’s new friends in Chapel Hill soon devised a plan to buy his freedom and send him to Liberia. This plan led to Horton’s biggest achievement, his first book. Horton’s first book was titled The Hope of Liberty and was the first book published by a Black man in the South. The Hope of Liberty was published by Joseph Gales, a liberal American journalist stationed in Raleigh who would go on to be the ninth mayor of Washington, D.C. The book touched on Horton’s wishes for freedom and commentated on southern slavery, the first protests ever published by a enslaved person in America.

     However, Horton’s largest accomplishment historically did not result in success during his lifetime. Profits from The Hope of Liberty were poor, and Horton’s original plan of traveling to Liberia was forgotten. However, even if the book would have been a success while he was alive, Horton would have had a very difficult time purchasing his freedom. In order to buy freedom at the time, an enslaved person must have the agreement of their enslaver. The enslaver would set the price of freedom with additional fees being tacked on by the state.

     Through Horton’s poetry and books, he did befriend quite a few influential North Carolinians who would later rally behind his cry for freedom. Horton’s admirers included John Owen, North Carolina’s first Democratic governor; William Lloyd Garrison, American journalist and prominent abolitionist and suffragist; and University of North Carolina presidents, Joseph Caldwell and David L. Swain. 

     The Hillsborough Recorder published The Poetical Works of George M. Horton, The Colored Bard of North-Carolina, To Which Is Prefixed The Life of the Author, Written by Himself in 1845, Horton’s second published collection of poetry. 

     In 1865, Horton followed Captain Will H.S. Banks’s Michigan cavalry unit north after the Civil War. Horton’s friendship with Banks led to Banks’s sponsorship of Horton’s third published book, Naked Genius. This book was published through William B. Smith’s press in Raleigh.

     At 68, Horton settled in Philadelphia as a free man. In Philadelphia, Horton wrote Sunday school stories and worked with his friends found in North Carolina. At some point, Horton also married. His marriage is said to have been unhappy, but it did lead to the birth of his son, Free, and daughter, Rhody, both of who carry their mother’s name instead of Horton’s.

     In 1883, Horton passed away at 86, living free for only the last 17 years of his life. His published poetry covered many topics including faith, love and slavery. He also celebrated the rural beauty of Chatham County, connecting him forever to the land of his youth.

    Horton touches on the blooming summer landscapes of Chatham County in his poem “On Summer.” 

“Esteville begins to burn;

The auburn fields of harvest rise;

The torrid flames again return,

And thunders roll along the skies.

Perspiring Cancer lifts his head,

And roars terrific from on high;

Whose voice the timid creatures dread;

From which they strive with awe to fly.

The night-hawk ventures from his cell,

And starts his note in evening air;

He feels the heat his bosom swell,

Which drives away the gloom of fear.

Thou noisy insect, start thy drum;

Rise lamp-like bugs to light the train;

And bid sweet Philomela come,

And sound in front the nightly strain.

The bee begins her ceaseless hum,

And doth with sweet exertions rise;

And with delight she stores her comb,

And well her rising stock supplies.

Let sportive children well beware,

While sprightly frisking o’er the green;

And carefully avoid the snare,

Which lurks beneath the smiling scene.

The mistress bird assumes her nest,

And broods in silence on the tree,

Her note to cease, her wings at rest,

She patient waits her young to see.

The farmer hastens from the heat;

The weary plough-horse droops his head;

The cattle all at noon retreat,

And ruminate beneath the shade.

The burdened ox with dauntless rage,

Flies heedless to the liquid flood,

From which he quaffs, devoid of gauge,

Regardless of his driver's rod.

Pomaceous orchards now expand

Their laden branches o'er the lea;

And with their bounty fill the land,

While plenty smiles on every tree.

On fertile borders, near the stream,

Now gaze with pleasure and delight;

See loaded vines with melons teem—

'Tis paradise to human sight.

With rapture view the smiling fields,

Adorn the mountain and the plain,

Each, on the eve of Autumn, yields

A large supply of golden grain.”

     In 1934, Chatham County Schools decided to rename Pittsboro Colored School to Horton High School, creating the first high school in Chatham County that served Black students. By 1969, Northwood High School was under construction to accommodate the integration of Horton High School and Pittsboro High School, the previous white school. By 1970, Chatham County’s integration plan made Horton a middle school, changing the school’s name once again to Horton Middle School.

     In 1996, the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inducted Horton.

     In 1997, Horton was named Chatham County’s Historic Poet Laureate.

     In 1998, June 28 was declared George Moses Horton Day in Chatham County.

     In 1999, a historical marker was placed two miles southeast of his original plantation. This historical marker was the first in North Carolina dedicated to a Black person.