English: The grave of a black slave named Archibald Monteith who, in 1854, dictated an account of his remarkable life to a missionary. As a child, Archibald had been transported from his native Igboland to work on the Jamaican sugar plantations, travelling on one of the last slave ships to cross the Atlantic before the abolition of the British trade in 1807.

This detailed biography, which recorded his spiritual beliefs as well as his struggle to buy his own freedom, was circulated in Christian periodicals across the globe. Whether he was aware of it or not, Archibald had also set down a document that would provide future generations with something unique among those descended from slave stock: a family history.

Text above adapted from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/feb/24/familyandrelationships.family3

The inscription reads:

Archibald Monteith
born in Africa 1800
died July 8 1864