[techaudible83]

The article does discuss this, and the main point to understand is that his mother was a slave and was then emancipated, meaning any children she had prior to emancipation were born into slavery. The article says that his father emancipated both his mother and him. It does not state that there is 100% definitive evidence of his status at birth but given his mother's status and the lack of baptismal records for his birth, it is very likely he was born a slave.