Bethany Veney (March 19, 1812 – November 16, 1915), was an American writer whose autobiography and slave narrative, Aunt Betty's Story: The Narrative of Bethany Veney, A Slave Woman, was published in 1889. Born into slavery on a farm near Luray, Virginia, as Bethany Johnson, she married twice. Her first husband was an enslaved man, Jerry Fickland, with whom she had a daughter, Charlotte. He was sold away from her and she later married Frank Veney, a free black man. She was sold on an auction block to her final enslaver, George J. Adams, who brought her to Providence, Rhode Island and freed her. After the American Civil War, Veney made four trips to Virginia to move her daughter and her family and 16 additional family members north to New England.

In 1812, Bethany Johnson was born into slavery on the Pass Run farm, near Luray, in what is now Page County, Virginia. Her parents, Charlotte and Joseph Johnson, had five children, including Matilda and Stephen. Veney was of African American and Blackfoot heritage. She was enslaved by James Fletcher, who owned Pass Run. Fletcher's daughter Nasenith taught her a fire and brimstone lesson about the repercussions of lying, which was softened by her mother's lesson about the rewards of being truthful. The lesson about honesty had a life-long impact that helped her fight for herself.

Occasionally, Fletcher called on Veney to sing and dance for his visitors. Her mother died when she was about nine years of age, and she did not know her father. Soon after her mother's death, Fletcher died. The enslaved people that he held were left to his five daughters and two sons, who split up her family. Lucy Fletcher, who Veney considered to be kindhearted, received her and her sister Matilda. Lucy was unmarried, and she and the people she enslaved moved in with her sister Nasenith Fletcher and David Kibbler after these latter were married on January 25, 1827. For some time, Veney was hired out to a woman who fed and clothed her in exchange for her labor. Veney considered this woman kind because she gave Veney enough food to survive and did not whip her. Veney remarked that white children not born into slavery would have a different definition of kindness. David Kibbler was a cruel master who was violent towards all the enslaved people in his household. Veney was once whipped with a nail rod that made her lame, and then was whipped again after her mistress inquired about the cause of her injury and asked Kibbler about it. Once, when she was told to cut a switch to be beaten with, she ran away from the injustice of the beating. After a night of heavy rain, she sought assistance from Kibbler's father, also an enslaver who beat his slaves. Once he heard her story, he and Veney visited Kibbler, who was told by his father not to whip her. She returned to Kibbler's house and was not beaten.

Kibbler's brother Jerry and sister Sally were converted Methodists, who found religion after attending a camp meeting. They outfitted a schoolhouse building in Luray to serve as a venue for church services and revival meetings and encouraged Veney to become a Christian. Lucy arranged for someone to take Veney to a camp meeting, where a hymn inspired her.

Then let this feeble body fail,
Or let it faint or die,
My soul shall quit this mournful vale,
And soar to worlds on high,
Shall join those distant saints,

And find its long-sought rest.

Veney began to pray for her freedom, believing that if she were a good Christian, she would be freed from slavery. Veney wished to earn her own money and save it until she could afford a house with a lovely garden. She relied on her faith to endure difficult times. Still a young girl, she was severely punished by her slaveholder for attending church. She continued to attend church when she was hired out to Mr. Levers and after she got before Kibbler and begged to be allowed to attend church. He said, "Well, I'll go the devil if you ain't my match. Yes, go to meeting..." From that point forward, she was able to attend church. She became known for her honesty and devotion.

Around the late 1830s, Bethany Johnson married Jerry Fickland, an enslaved man who lived seven miles from her on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They received permission to marry from their enslavers, and they had a simple wedding ceremony. Knowing their enslavers could separate them at any time, they excluded promises to be accurate and forsake all others. They continued to live at the plantations of their enslavers and could only visit one another when they were given permission and received a pass to travel on the roads without being picked up as runaways.