James Johnson’s Grave, Pinceton Cemetery (1816-1902)

James Johnson escaped to the North, making it as far away as his money would take him.  Born in 1816 in Maryland, Johnson was given as a Christmas present to the owner s young son. 

Johnson was a friend to Frederick Douglass, who would later become a famous abolitionist.  Named James Collins before coming to Princeton, Johnson eventually followed Douglasss lead and escaped to freedom.  As a runaway slave, Johnson arrived in Princeton, and lived on Witherspoon Street before landing a job at the university as a janitor and bootblack.  While discussing matters with friends at the post office, he was confronted by his former owner.  But a kindhearted woman came to his rescue and purchased him from the slaveholder for $550.  Eventually the former slave paid back every dollar of the money that bought his freedom.  Johnson went on to establish a secondhand clothing store on the spot where Nassau Hall had burned down earlier.

He was a familiar character, going around campus carrying candies and apples in a basket on his arm.  When Johnson died, Princeton students purchased the headstone for his grave at the Princeton Cemetery.