Venture Smith Purchases His Own Freedom

Venture Smith, born Broteer Furro in West Africa around 1729 and enslaved as a child, purchased his own freedom in 1765 after years of hiring out his labor and saving money. He went on to purchase the freedom of his wife, children, and several other enslaved people, and became a prosperous farmer and businessman in Connecticut. His autobiography, published in 1798, is one of the earliest African American narratives and documents both the brutality of slavery and the extraordinary self-determination of an enslaved man.