Barbara Leigh Partridge

Rocking the Cradle of Liberty Barbara Leigh Partridge

Taken to a slave auction with his father in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1836, twelve-year-old John Wilder tensed as he heard a pregnant black teenage girl's pleas not to be separated from her son. While others in the crowd told John that black people were different from them, with different sensibilities, he knew that was not the case.

Sensing his son's consternation and being a compassionate man himself, John's father purchased the entire family at the auction, including the pregnant teenager, and her young son, a child a few years younger that John. Having already studied with the local doctor, John soon helped deliver the teen's baby and watched his mother help save its life. By the age of twenty-three, John knew that slavery could not be a part of his life's work. He left his family's home and struck out on his own.

John worked for the railroad and experienced many life-changing events in the time in which he lived, including the American Civil War. Would John's sense of loyalty sustain him through this difficult time? In Rocking the Cradle of Liberty explore the fascinating and unpredictable story of a man who lived more than 150 years ago.