Originally published in 1856, these narratives were collected by Boston abolitionist Benjamin Drew (1812-1903), whose trip through Canada was sponsored by the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada and by John P. Jewett, the publisher of Uncle Tom's Cabin. In 1852 the colored population of Upper Canada was estimated to be thirty thousand. Of this large number, nearly all the adults, and many of the children, had been fugitive slaves from the United States. Harriet Tubman was one of the interviewees for this book.