A new book by Peter Douet
One Thread in the Fabric of Freedom
The true story of Reverend Edmond Kelly, who was born into slavery in 1817 and preached across three countries to buy his family out of bondage.
A life written against the odds
He was born the property of another man, and he died a minister who had bought back everyone he loved.
Edmond Kelly was born into slavery in Columbia, Tennessee, in 1817. Teaching an enslaved person to read was forbidden, so he taught himself, quietly, over years. What he learned to read, he learned to preach.
He became the first Black man ordained as a Baptist minister in Tennessee. When he fled bondage, he left behind a wife and children who were still owned. Buying them back became the work of his life.
The shape of one life
1817
Born into slavery
Edmond Kelly is born in Columbia, Tennessee, the property of another man.
In secret
He teaches himself to read
Literacy was forbidden to him, so he learned it quietly and alone.
Ordained
The first in Tennessee
He becomes the first Black man ordained as a Baptist minister in the state.
Escape
He flees bondage
He leaves behind a wife and children who remain enslaved, and begins the work of buying them back.
The journey
America, England, Ireland
He preaches across three countries, raising the sum his family is priced at.
$2,800
His family is freed
He raises the full amount and purchases the freedom of his wife and children.
The war
Ministry to the escaped
He meets Abraham Lincoln, and ministers to people escaping slavery during the Civil War.
Legacy
Churches, and a family line
He founds numerous churches and gives his life to the Gospel and to freedom.
$2,800
The price of bringing his family home.
His wife and his children were property, and property has a price. The sum set against them was two thousand eight hundred dollars.
He had no money and no claim on any. What he had was a voice and the Gospel, so he took both across America, then across the Atlantic to England and to Ireland, and he preached until the amount was met.
He raised all of it. They came home free.
Faith
He learned to read so that he could preach, and preaching became the only tool he had.
Courage
He crossed an ocean and back for a sum he had no guarantee of raising.
Family
Every mile of that journey was for four people whose freedom had a price on it.
Freedom
He spent the rest of his life building churches and ministering to those who ran.
One Thread in the Fabric of Freedom
The true story of Reverend Edmond Kelly. Written by Peter Douet.
The true story of Reverend Edmond Kelly, born into slavery in Columbia, Tennessee, in 1817, who taught himself to read in secret and spent years preaching across America, England and Ireland to buy his family out of bondage.
The book is in its final stage before printing.
Written by Peter Douet
Peter Douet is the author of One Thread in the Fabric of Freedom. Edmond Kelly is his ancestor, and this book is the record of that line: a family history kept, traced and set down so that it is not lost.
It is a work of biography and history, drawn from the life of a man who was born owned and who died free, having freed the people he loved.
Be among the first to read his story
The book is in its final stage before printing. Leave your email and we will write to you once, when it is available.