James Forten’s Birthday – Anniversary

Sept 2, 1766. James Forten was born of free black parents at Philadelphia, PA. As a powder boy on an American Revolutionary warship, heescaped being sold as a slave when his ship was captured due to the intervention of the son of the British commander. While in England he became involved with abolitionists. On his return to Philadelphia, he became an apprentice to a sailmaker and eventually purchased the company for which he worked. He was active in the abolition movement, and in 1816 his support was sought by the American Colonization Society for the plan to settle American blacks at Liberia. He rejected their ideas and their plans to make him the ruler of the colony. From the large profits of his successful sail-making company, he contributed heavily to the abolitionist movement and was a supporter of William Lloyd Garrisons antislavery journal, The Liberator. Diedat Philadelphia, PA, Mar 4, 1842.