James Forten and the Factor of Race in Philadelphia's Antebellum Business Commu
"You Know I Am a Man of Business": JamesForten and the Factor of Race in Philadelphia'sAntebellum BusinessCommunity Julie Winch HistoryDepartment UniversityofMassachusetts Boston SirCharles Lyell was perplexed. Visiting Philadelphia in Marchof 1842, he witnessedthe funeralprocession of African-Americanentrepreneur James Forten.He wasimpressed by the manyhundreds of people,black and white, rich andpoor, who joinedin payingtheir respects. Surely this must indicate that the deceasedhad beenheld in highregard by all classesof society,and that,in hiscase, racial prejudice had been set aside. I wasrejoicing that his colour had proved no impedimentto his risingin the world,and that he hadbeen allowed so muchfair play as to succeedin over-toppingthe majorityof his white competitors,when I learnt...notlong before his death,he had beenespecially mortified, because...his sons had been refused a hearing at a public meeting...to speak on some subject connectedwith trade[Lyell, 1843, p. 207]. Perhapsthe editorof the antislaveryjournal The Herald of Freedom could havehelped the Englishmanunderstand the situation.As he observed,to "The whitemen in Philadelphia...Itwould have seemed a sortof sacrilegeto despise [Forten],and they madehim an exceptionto his race" [Heraldof Freedomin La'berator,April 8, 1842].Being "an exception to hisrace" was hardly a comfort- ablerole for James Forten. It meantthat, although he could"rise in theworld," therewere certain bounds he andhis childrencould not overstep.But what werethose bounds? How did Fortentry to negotiatehis way aroundthem? Whenwas he successful,and when did the forcesof racialproscription prove too powerfuleven for someoneof histact and ingenuity? JamesForten was born in a modesthome in Philadelphia'sDock Ward on September2, 1766.His father,Thomas Forten, was freeborn, but Thomas was the grandsonof an Africanslave who had beenbrought to the infant colonyof Pennsylvaniain the 1680s[Gloucester, 1843, p.
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