James Forten
James Forten (
1766 -
1842), an
African-American abolitionist and business man, was born a free man in
Philadelphia. At the age of 14, he joined the navy to serve on the
Royal Lewis in the
Revolutionary War, where he invented a device to handle ship sails. He was aprenticed as a sailmaker and became a foreman in 1786. He became an advocate of
temperance,
women's suffrage and equal rights for African-Americans. James Forten and
Richard Allen formed the Convention of Color in 1817. With the help of Richard Allen and
Absalom Jones, he enlisted 2500 Blacks to guard Philadelphia during the
War of 1812. William helped his friend
William Lloyd Garrison form the
American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. His daughter, Harriet, married
Robert Purvis, and his daughter, Margaretta, was an officer of the Female Anti-Slavery Society in Philidelphia in 1845.
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