 Well, after fleeing slavery in 1839, abolitionist miner and sailor John Swanson Jacobs embarked on a journey that would take him to Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and ultimately, Australia. It was there that he published his life story in a local newspaper, a unique document that not only gave an account of his experience under enslavement, but also named his enslavers, criticized America's founding documents, and called out the American citizens who allowed slavery to persist.