The History of William Webb: Composed by Himself

Large Print Edition: As I am getting along in age, it makes me look back to the days of my youth, and makes me remember my parents, and though they were in slavery, and I was born a slave, I often study how strict my parents reared me, although they were slaves. My mother taught me there was a Supreme Being, that would take care of me in all my trials; she taught me not to rebel against the men that were treating me like some dumb brute, making me work and refusing to let me learn to read. Parents have a great responsibility resting upon them, in rearing their children in the fear of the Lord. Parents ought never to teach their children to hate another race of people. When I was between nine and ten years of age, I often went by myself to study how wicked the people were getting to be. I wandered through the fields and saw how the slaveholders were treating the women in slavery, and rearing their own children as slaves, and selling them, and saw the cruel whipping. I stood by, and the thought came to mind then, of the Supreme Being my mother had taught me about; I looked to the heavens and cried out Lord if you rule this earth, why do not you deliver us from this cruel bondage. I heard a voice say, I will be with you and your race of people; so when I heard that voice, I remained silent. I went and told my mother what I had heard, and my mother said, "my son, that was God who spoke to you, that time will come, though I may not live to see it. She told me I would travel far and near, that I would travel more than all the rest of the children. In your travels, you will hear a great many different doctrines, but the voice you heard, will be with you in all your travels. She said, "son, always remember the love of God, He can comfort you, when everyone has forsaken you."