Michael Shiner: The Enslaved Man Who Wrote His Way into American History

Share Tweet By Tamara Shiloh Long before African Americans could freely tell their stories, Michael G. Shiner was quietly documenting history. Born into slavery in 1805 in Piscataway, Maryland, Shiner became one of the most remarkable eyewitness chroniclers of nineteenth-century America. His writings preserved more than five decades of Washington, D.C., history, providing an extraordinary perspective on slavery, freedom, labor, and the nation’s transformation. He was born to William Pumphrey Jr., whose family owned property in Maryland and Washington, D.C. Around 1812, Shiner was brought to the nation’s capital, where he eventually worked at the Washington Navy Yard. Although denied the educational opportunities available to White Americans, he learned to read and write, likely through religious instruction at Washington’s First Presbyterian Church. His literacy became a powerful instrument of historical preservation.

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