Samuel Williams was born into slavery in Charleston, South Carolina in 1852. In his later years, Williams penned his recollections about his life before and after slavery; but he published his memoir under a pseudonym, Sam Aleckson. Williams’s identity as the author was unknown outside of his family. The author's identity is published for the first time here! By weaving together his memoir and archival research, this exhibition traces Samuel Williams’s life from his childhood in Charleston, through Reconstruction and its aftermath, to his migration North in the late-nineteenth century. Published April 2018.