A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James FortenWinch has written the first full-length biography of James Forten, a hero of African American history and one of the most remarkable men in 19th-century America. Born into a free black family in 1766, Forten served in the Revolutionary War as a teenager. By 1810 he had earned the distinction of being the leading sailmaker in Philadelphia. Soon after Forten emerged as a leader in Philadelphia's black community and was active in a wide range of reform activities. Especially prominent in national and international antislavery movements, he served as vice-president of the American Anti-Slavery Society and became close friends with William Lloyd Garrison to whom he lent money to start up the Liberator. His family were all active abolitionists and a granddaughter, Charlotte Forten, published a famous diary of her experiences teaching ex-slaves in South Carolina's Sea Islands during the Civil War. This is the first serious biography of Forten, who stands beside Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and Martin Luther King, Jr., in the pantheon of African Americans who fundamentally shaped American history. |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 8 | |
| 28 | |
| 53 | |
A Gentleman of the Pave | 77 |
Our Happy Family Circle | 107 |
Brother Forten | 125 |
Reflections of A Man of Colour | 151 |
New Friends of Freedom | 236 |
Abolition Property | 259 |
Time of Trial | 283 |
Death of a Patriarch | 312 |
Legacy | 332 |
Abbreviations | 377 |
Notes | 379 |
Works Cited | 451 |
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Common terms and phrases
abolitionist Absalom Jones African African-American African-American community Allen American Amphion Anthony Benezet Anti-Slavery Society antislavery apprentices April August Bazely black Philadelphians Book British brother Bucks County canvas captain Charleston Charlotte Forten Charlotte Forten Grimké citizens Colonization color convention Court Cuffe Papers daughter death December Delaware delphia died Douglass emigration England Episcopal Church February Forten knew freedom friends Grimké Haiti Harriet Ibid James Forten January John Joseph Journal July letter Liberia lived Lombard London March Mary meeting merchant Negro October Paul Cuffe Pennsylvania Abolition petition phia Phila Philadel Philadelphia County Philadelphia County Deeds Philadelphia directory Poulson Purvis's race racial Records Register Robert Bridges Robert Purvis sail loft sailmaker Sarah Saunders September ship slave slavery South Street Thomas Thomas's tion trade U.S. Census United Vandine vessels Ward William Lloyd Garrison women wrote York young
Popular passages
Page 172 - That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness.
Page 85 - ... travel far from home and seldom go to public places unless quite sure that admission is free to all; therefore, we meet with none of these mortifications which might otherwise ensue. I would recommend to my colored friends to follow our example and they would be spared some very painful realities. My Father bids me tell you that white and colored men have worked with him from his first commencement in business. One man (a white) has been with him nearly thirty seven years; very few of his hired...
Page 273 - Shall 1 less love the workmanship of Him Before whose wisdom all our own is dim? Shall my heart learn to graduate its thrill? Beat for the White, and for the Black be still? Let the thought perish, while that heart can feel The blessed memory of your grateful zeal, While it can prize the excellence of mind The chaste demeanor and the state refined, Still are ye all my sisters, meet to share A Brother's blessing and a Brother's prayer.
Page 228 - We, whose names are hereunder written, testify, that AB hath laid before us satisfactory testimonials, that, for the space of three years last past, he hath lived piously, soberly, and honestly ; and hath not written, taught, or held, any thing contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church...
Page 173 - ... over others. They knew we were deeper skinned than they were, but they acknowledged us as men, and found that many an honest heart beat beneath a dusky bosom. They felt that they had no more authority to enslave us, than England had to tyrannize over them. They...
Page 191 - Resolved, That we never will separate ourselves voluntarily from the slave population of this country; they are our brethren by the ties of consanguinity, of suffering, and of wrong; and we feel that there is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than fancied advantages for a season.
Page 171 - This idea embraces the Indian and the European, the Savage and the Saint, the Peruvian and the Laplander, the white Man and the African, and whatever measures are adopted subversive of this inestimable privilege, are in direct violation of the letter and spirit of our Constitution, and become subject to the animadversion of all...
Page 36 - Impressed with these ideas we conceive that it is our duty, and we rejoice that it is in our power, to extend a portion of that freedom to others which hath been extended to us...