Sail-maker and social activist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. A free African-American, he joined the Continental navy at age 15 and was among those taken prisoner when his ship, the Royal Louis, was captured by the British. After being released, he returned to Philadelphia and was apprenticed to sail-maker Robert Bridges. He rose to be foreman there (1786), and when Bridges died (1798), he took over control of the sail loft. He became wealthy and was a leader of the black community of Philadelphia. In 1814 he helped enlist 2500 African-American volunteers to protect Philadelphia during the War of 1812. Active in promoting temperance and peace, he devoted much energy and money to abolishing slavery and gaining the civil rights of African-Americans. He opposed the American Colonization Society and its plans to send blacks out of the USA, provided financial support to William Lloyd Garrison's paper, The Liberator, and refused rigging to slave-trade vessels. Although all but forgotten in ensuing decades, he was arguably the most extraordinary African-American of his era.
James Forten (1766–1842) was an African-American abolitionist and businessman.
Forten was born a free black in Philadelphia. Before long, Forten started his own sailmaking company;
Forten used his wealth to advocate for temperance, women's suffrage and, above all, equal rights for African-Americans. With the help of Reverend Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, he enlisted 2,500 Blacks to guard Philadelphia during the War of 1812. Forten and Allen worked together to establish the first Convention of Color in 1817. Forten specifically opposed the British policy of resettling black Loyalist veterans of the Revolutionary War in Sierra Leone.
In 1833, Forten helped his friend William Lloyd Garrison form the American Anti-Slavery Society, and sustained it with financial support over the years.
James Forten was married to Charlotte Vandine Forten. Their children included Robert Bridges Forten, Margaretta Forten, Harriet Forten Purvis, Sarah Louisa Forten Purvis, and James Forten, Jr.
Like his father, Forten's son Robert was a vigorous anti-slavery activist. Forten's daughter, Harriet, married the abolitionist Robert Purvis; Carrying forward the family legacy to a new generation, Forten's granddaughter, Charlotte Forten Grimké was a poet, educator and, of course, abolitionist.
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