A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten

One of the finest biographies I've read in a long time is Julie Winch's "A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten." for those who pay attention to history, Forten's name is often mentioned in passing. He was a prosperous Philadelphia business owner during the first half of the 19th century, and, obviously, a man of visible African heritage. But the details... Nobody has written a 376 page book of his life, as a unique individual, and in the context of his times.

Forten was a Revolutionary War veteran. He sailed on two voyages of privateers authorized by the Continental Congress to obtain vital military and other supplies by seizing British ships. The second voyage, the ship he served on was intercepted by a British naval vessel. The teen-aged Forten spent several months on a prison barge. The captain of the British ship had offered Forten an opportunity to sail to Britain as a companion to the captain's young son. Forten replied "I am taken captive for the liberties of my country, and I never will betray her interest." Unflinching patriotism could have gotten him sold into slavery in the West Indies -- the usual British policy toward anyone of dark complexion captured while serving in the cause of American independence.

Forten spent most of his adult life as the master of a shop that made sails for ships -- exactly, precise, skilled work. He employed a substantial work force, including men classified as "white" and "colored." To put such a life together is no easy task. Most relevant records have disappeared. Forten's business records were not donated to an archive, nor preserved in a family attic. He lost his father at an early age, and his impoverished family did not keep a library or well preserved diaries. There are scraps of correspondence, court records, real estate records (Forten owned many lots and buildings in the city).

Winch has embellished the bare record of Forten's individual life with the next best thing -- the context of events and circumstances in which he lived, the people he associated with, the institutions he is known to have joined or supported. If there is a weakness in the book, the author sometimes yields to the temptation to speculate about what Forten's thought may or must have been in various situations.

Forten was a very young man at the time of the American Revolution. He was born a free man -- his great-grandfather had been enslaved and transported across the Atlantic, but his grandfather had secured his own freedom. Forten's father, and probably his mother, had been born free.

Forten lived through the hopeful possibilities that "all men are created equal" might come to mean exactly that. He lived through the resurgence of racism in the post-revolutionary era.

His later years saw the rise of an abolition movement that was initially rejected by most, which he embraced

and helped to fund. He found a good deal to criticize in the attitudes of his "white" abolitionist colleagues. He was mourned by thousands, of various classes and complexions.

It is a gripping story, which offers a unique window into a poorly understood period of American history. It is also the biography of a unique man in his own right, for his own accomplishments and legacy. It has been in print for twenty-one years (since 2002) and should have a much greater impact on our comprehension of what patriotism really means, than it has so far.