"Because James Forten (1766-1842) became such a central figure in the history of black opposition to colonization--as we will see, he played an important role in converting and then financially supporting William Lloyd Garrison and thus in launching the radical biracial abolitionism of the 1830s and beyond--a bit more should be said about his background. Born free in Philadelphia, he attended the Quaker African School run by the pioneer abolitionist Anthony Benezet, but after his father died, he left school at age nine in order to work full-time. After the Revolution, when for a time, he was a prisoner of the British, Forten was apprenticed as a sailmaker and invented a device to handle sails. That breakthrough helped him succeed in a major way when he started his own sail making company and became one of the wealthiest blacks in the country. Forten married Charlotte Vandine, and they raised a large family devoted to abolitionism, philanthropy, temperance and women's rights."
P.172, THE PROBLEM OF SLAVERY IN THE AGE OF EMANCIPATION by David Brion Davis (2014)
Friday, September 12, 2014
JAMES FORTEN, SAIL MAKER, ABOLITIONIST, PHILANTHROPIST, FREE MAN OF COLOR
"Because James Forten (1766-1842) became such a central figure in the history of black opposition to colonization--as we will see, he played an important role in converting and then financially supporting William Lloyd Garrison and thus in launching the radical biracial abolitionism of the 1830s and beyond--a bit more should be said about his background. Born free in Philadelphia, he attended the Quaker African School run by the pioneer abolitionist Anthony Benezet, but after his father died, he left school at age nine in order to work full-time. After the Revolution, when for a time, he was a prisoner of the British, Forten was apprenticed as a sailmaker and invented a device to handle sails. That breakthrough helped him succeed in a major way when he started his own sail making company and became one of the wealthiest blacks in the country. Forten married Charlotte Vandine, and they raised a large family devoted to abolitionism, philanthropy, temperance and women's rights."
P.172, THE PROBLEM OF SLAVERY IN THE AGE OF EMANCIPATION by David Brion Davis (2014)