Charles Ball, a slave from Maryland, was born in about 1780 . His grandfather was brought from Africa and sold as a slave. His mother was the slave of a tobacco planter. When the planter died when Ball was four years old, he family were sold separately. Ball stayed in Maryland but his mother went to Georgia and he never saw her again.
Ball was allowed to marry but in 1805 he was sold to a cotton plantation owner in South Carolina while his wife and children remained in Maryland. Ball made several attempts to escape but was captured and became another man's slave.
After a period in Georgia he escaped again and managed to get back to his previous home in Maryland. Unfortunately, his wife and children had been sold to a slave-owner in another state. He re-married and obtained a small farm until in about 1830 he was seized and returned to slavery in Georgia.
Ball managed to escape again and this time settled in Philadelphia. With the help of Isaac Fisher, a white lawyer, wrote his autobiography, The Life and Adventures of Charles Ball (1837). Afraid of being recaptured, Ball moved again and its is not known when and where he died.
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