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James Forten
1766 - 1842
Name: James Forten Sr.
Birthplace: Philadelphia
Status: Free Person of Color
Occupation/Training: Reform leader, businessman
Residence: Philadephia
Abolitionist Involvement: James Forten was the grandson of a slave, who obtained his freedom early. As a young man, he studied at a Quaker school under the tutelage of abolitionist Antony Benezet. At 15, he worked on a ship the Royal Louis during the American Revolution, when he was captured and taken to Britain as a prisoner. Upon his release he met a number of persons interested in the abolitionist cause in America. He returned to America after a year, and became a successful businessman after inventing a device to handle sails. He used funds earned in his business to promote the case for abolition of slavery, women's rights, and civil rights. He immersed himself in the cause for abolition when in 1800, the state of Pennsylvania chose to bar the immigration of free Negroes from other states. The bill, he stated, required that free blacks become informers on their own people for merely receiving a visitor in their homes. He was among those who also voiced opposition towards colonization. It was his opposition to colonization that made his quest for abolition stronger. He eventually convinced William Lloyd Garrison that colonization should not have the focus that it was receiving. He was present when the Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1833, and he served on the board of the Society. He founded the American Moral Reform Society, which was a group of black men who were dedicated to the prinicples of , "the promotion of Education, Temperance, Economy, and Universal Liberty." He also served as president of this organization. He worked diligently in the effort to keep the state body of Pennsylvania against enforcing more vigorously the Fugitive Slave Act. The US Supreme Court decided that state officials were not required to assist in the return of fugitives, when the case Prigg .v Pennsylvania was heard. Forten died in the same year that the case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania was heard in front of the Supreme Court, and his actions of organizing support were attributed to the final outcome of the case.
Family: Children: Margaretta Forten, Sarah Forten, Harriet Forten, James Forten Jr., Charlotte Forten (grand-daughter)-another abolitionist Robert Bridges Forten.
Place of Death: Philadelphia
Publications/References: Forten the Sailmaker, Pioneer, Champion of Negro Rights (1968) by Esther M. Doughty; The Journal of Charlotte Forten by Ray Allen Billington (1953)
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