Скачать или смотреть James Forten Philadelphia Gullah Geechee Sail Maker. Black American Indian History Business Man

James Forten (1766–1842) was one of the most important Black Americans in U.S. history — and one of the most powerful forgotten figures of Philadelphia’s Black freedom movement.
He was not enslaved by the system — he beat it, financially, politically, and morally.

Here is his true story.

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⚓ Born Free in a Slave Nation (1766)

James Forten was born free in Philadelphia in 1766, while most Black people in America were enslaved. His father was a sailmaker — a skilled trade connected to ships, oceans, and global commerce.

That detail matters.
The sea was power.

When the American Revolution broke out, Forten joined the fight at just 14 years old, serving aboard an American privateer fighting the British.

He was captured by the British Navy and thrown into a brutal prison ship.
A British officer offered him freedom — if he would betray America and fight for England.

James Forten refused.

A Black boy in chains chose principle over survival.

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🧵 The Sailmaker Who Became a Millionaire

After the war, Forten apprenticed with a white sailmaker in Philadelphia. Sailmaking was one of the most important industries in the Atlantic world — it powered ships that moved cotton, indigo, rice, sugar, and people.

Forten mastered the craft, then invented a device that made sails work better.

By his 30s, he owned his own sail loft.
By the early 1800s, James Forten was one of the richest men in Philadelphia — Black or white.

In today’s money, he would be worth tens of millions.

But he did not hoard wealth.

He turned it into liberation capital.

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📰 The Black Press & The War Against Colonization

White elites proposed sending free Black Americans people to Africa — the American Colonization Society.

Forten recognized this for what it was:
A plan to remove free Black power from America.

So he funded and organized:

• Black newspapers
• Abolitionist pamphlets
• Political organizing
• Legal challenges
• Churches and schools

In 1817, when colonization agents came to Philadelphia, Forten helped organize a mass Black resistance meeting that rejected deportation.

The message was clear:

“We are Americans Indians. We will not be exiled.”

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🔥 Father of the Black Abolitionist Movement

James Forten financed and empowered the next generation of Black leaders:

• William Lloyd Garrison
• David Walker
• Robert Purvis
• Frederick Douglass
• Black churches and schools

His home became a command center of Black resistance.

His daughters were radical abolitionists.
His sons were organizers.
His money paid for printing presses and legal battles.

Philadelphia became the beating heart of Black freedom — and Forten was its banker.

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🌊 Gullah Geechee Connection

Now here is the part they never teach in school.

Philadelphia’s Black elite — including Forten — had strong ties to Charleston, South Carolina, and the Sea Islands.

Why?

Because the wealth of the early U.S. economy came from Gullah Geechee labor:

• Rice
• Indigo
• Cotton
• Maritime skills
• Shipbuilding
• Navigation

Philadelphia shipbuilders, sailmakers, and merchants depended on Lowcountry trade routes.

James Forten’s sail loft was connected to ships moving between:

Charleston ⇄ Philadelphia ⇄ Caribbean ⇄ Africa

The same Atlantic network that enslaved Africans also created Black wealth for those who escaped it.

Forten hacked the system from the inside.

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🏛 His Legacy Still Stands

Today, his house still stands in Philadelphia — the James Forten House, a National Historic Landmark.

But what he truly left behind was something bigger:

A blueprint for Black sovereignty:

Land. Industry. Media. Education. Money.

Not begging.
Not waiting.
Not leaving.

Building.

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⚔ Why James Forten Matters to the Gullah Geechee Story

James Forten represents what happens when African maritime knowledge + Gullah Geechee survival + American capitalism combine.

He was proof that:

The same sea that stole us also gave us the road back to power.

That is the same truth inside Gullah Gullah Island, The Sea of Bones, and The Mark.

Forten wasn’t just history.
He was a prototype.

And Philadelphia was his kingdom.