CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Nobody ever showed George Moses Horton how to read or write.

What You Need To Know

George Moses Horton is the first enslaved and African-American author to publish a book in North Carolina

Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner says he's inspired by Horton's work

There are no known pictures of Horton

He had to learn it all himself, and he had to do it as an enslaved person for his entire life. UNC-Chapel Hill Professor Eliza Richards has been studying Horton for 20 years. 

Horton is the first enslaved and African-American author to publish a book in North Carolina.

“He taught himself to read and write, and he made a place for himself on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus," Richards said.

Richards says Horton would write acrostic poems for male students to give to their girlfriends. She says he learned to read and write by reading bibles and dictionaries that students gave him.

Richards spends some of her time at UNC’s Wilson Library, where most of Horton’s original poems and books live. She's putting together the first complete list of all his known work.

“I found him fascinating in part because he was so remarkable but also unknown," Richards said.

“This is 'Naked Genius,' this was the third, I think his third collection of poems," poet Fred Joiner said.

Since 2019, Joiner has recited poems at council meetings and countless other Carrboro town functions. Joiner is the Poet Laureate of Carrboro.

"Family, I write about history. I write about current events," Joiner said.

His passion for poetry started in 2003. In those nearly two decades, Joiner has always returned to one poet in particular — Horton.

“Every bio you read of him online, there's another piece to the puzzle," Joiner said.

Joiner keeps his Horton books close by for inspiration and perspective.

“He lived 68 years as an enslaved person, and so the force that he writes with about liberty and freedom comes from a totally different place than a person like me who doesn't have those things to grapple with," Joiner said.

There are no known pictures of Horton.

Richards says there is a picture online that was posted recently claiming it's Horton, but Richards and many other scholars say it's not him.