Born a slave in Georgia in 1853, after emancipation Octavia Rogers was able to pursue an education. She studied at Atlanta University to become a teacher and began teaching in Montezuma, Georgia in 1874. Octavia married A. E. P. Albert, also a teacher. Albert later became a minister with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the couple moved to Houma, Louisiana.
Octavia considered teaching a form of Christian service to her Lord. In Louisiana she conducted interviews with former slaves, encouraging them to reflect on their deliverance from slavery as Israel had been delivered from bondage in Egypt. Octavia recounted the stories she heard from the freed slaves in The House of Bondage, or, Charlotte Brooks and Other Slaves, Original and Life–Like, As They Appeared in Their Old Plantation and City Slave Life.
The book was published in 1890 by her husband and daughter shortly after Octavia’s death. As a minister’s wife, Octavia opened her home to all. She taught former slaves to read and write, read the Scriptures to them, and listened to their stories. She spent hours listening to their stories and offering spiritual counsel. She became especially close to Charlotte Brooks. Octavia wept with Charlotte as she told that all of her children were gone and she had no one to care for her in her old age. Knowing of Charlotte’s faith in Christ, Octavia asked her if she felt lonesome in this world. Charlotte answered, ‘No, my dear, how can a child of God feel lonesome? My heavenly Father took care of me in slave times. He led me all the way, and now he has set me free, and I am free in both body and soul.’
One day when Charlotte described the brutal treatment from her slave masters, Octavia read her Fanny Crosby’s hymn, ‘All the Way the Savior Leads Me’. Charlotte exclaimed that suited her case perfectly and she wanted to sing that hymn in glory!
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
~ Romans 8:1–2 ~
Her-Story
This extract is from Her–Story: 366 Devotions from 21 Centuries of the Christian Church
