FEBRUARY 2023
The Museum of the American Revolution had another stellar temporary exhibit, this time on James Forten and his descendants. This exhibit was called Black Founders: The Forten Family of Philadelphia. At first blush, it did not sound very interesting – I had never heard of this guy and wondered why MoAR’s exhibit was focused on this one man. But, in true MoAR fashion, the exhibit went above and beyond any expectations to give a thorough telling of not only the Forten family’s history, but also contextualized their times and paid homage to their descendants.
Side note: The ENTIRE exhibit is available virtually!!
Who Was James Forten?
James Forten was born free in Philadelphia in 1766. His father was a sail maker in the city but died when James was young. By the time he was 14, Forten was a privateer under Captain Stephen Decatur during the American Revolution, but their ship the Royal Louis was captured. He was offered the opportunity to study in England but declined for patriotic reasons.
Instead he was sent to the prison ship New Jersey and held captive for seven months. Upon his release, he joined a merchant ship that went to London for over a year. When he returned to Philadelphia in 1790, he apprenticed to Robert Bridges, his father’s former employer, to learn the sail making trade. Eight years later, in 1798, Bridges retired and Forten bought the business, becoming one of the wealthiest businessmen, black or white, in Philadelphia.
THE EXHIBIT
Topics that were explored thoroughly throughout this exhibit were:
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION – From the Philadelphia perspective, from 14 year old James’ perspective, from the naval perspective, from the perspective of black people, free and enslaved, from the perspective of the legacy it left behind in the new nation and in Philadelphia. Since what we often hear about the Revolution is from the (land) military perspective and not from the perspective of a subset of the civilian population, this overview was refreshing.
SAIL MAKING – What is a sail, how are sails made, different types of ships and the different sails needed, different types of fabric weave. Forten liked the quality of cotton for sails (over hemp and flax), and wanted American cotton, but American cotton came from American slavery which posed a dilemma. Later he made efforts to purchase material solely from “free labor”, that is, not enslaved. The free labor movement had a section in this exhibit – alas, I did not take notes but now I wish I had.
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(As a kid, I went through a brief phase of reading adventures on the high seas – this section brought me back to those days as I finally learned specifics of sails.)
PHILADELPHIA – As a city with a free black population– born free, recently free, recently immigrated. But just because the black population was free did not mean life with white neighbors was harmonious. For example, in 1838, the right to vote for African Americans in Pennsylvania was removed from the PA constitution (and Octavius V. Catto gave his life reversing this decision in 1871.) As racial unrest increased in the decades preceding the Civil War, Forten and his family stood firm in their convictions and refused to back down in the face of intimidation or threats.
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Personal observation – Philadelphia is noted for its important place on the Underground Railroad. But there is often little detail of the tensions within the city between the different groups of people. I liked how this information was presented because it brought all of these layers of history together and offered enough detail for some nuance but didn’t get so far into the weeds that the overall theme of Philly being a place of change was lost.
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THE BLACK COMMUNITY – From other wealthy African American business owners (like Robert Bogle and Hiram Charles Montier) to the arts (Francis Johnson was the first African American composer to have his music published as sheet music, and he was the star during the Marquis de Lafayette’s 1824 tour stop in Philadelphia), to Mother Bethel AME Church (founded 1794, the oldest AME church in the country) where Forten was involved – the Forten family circulated through society, writing letters, raising money, and otherwise using their influence to advocate for their community.
THE FORTEN HOME – The Forten home on Lombard Street and 3rd both showcased their success and was a gathering place in their community. They hosted friends, strangers, and such notables as Lucretia Mott and William Lloyd Garrison. They were ardent American patriots and abolitionists, and the company they kept reflected their commitment to the promise of the Revolution.
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ABOLITION – Forten died in 1842 as the national debate around slavery was heating up. He wrote extensively on the promise of equality of the Declaration and was adamant that free blacks had the right to stay in America (refuting any plans to colonize Liberia). Forten’s wife Charlotte and three of his daughters founded the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, two of his daughters married abolition activists who were involved in the Underground Railroad, a son recruited in Philadelphia for the USCT during the Civil War, a son and grandson enlisted. Forten even helped finance The Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison’s newspaper. The name Forten is synonymous with abolitionism in Philadelphia.
HONORING THE FORTEN DESCENDANTS – In another bout of epic curating (see: Life and Times of An Irish Soldier), MoAR had a number of family artifacts on display for the first time, which was more impressive for also being in the first exhibit dedicated solely to Forten. For example, there was a family bible that had been around since the 1800s that recorded family milestones – births, deaths, marriages, etc. The most recent name had been entered around 1996. Which was really cool and reinforced the fact that history is alive and our present day is the direct result of what happened back then.
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At the opening gala, I had the opportunity to shake hands with people named Forten, who can trace their lineage directly back to this enterprising sailmaker activist living 250 years ago in nearly the same location where the Museum sits today. It was a chance to connect the past to the present and almost felt like a challenge: At the end of MoAR’s main gallery, the permanent exhibit asks, “How will you uphold the spirit of the Revolution?” Meeting the Forten family felt like an opportunity to check in and assess how well I’m rising to that challenge.
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CONCLUSION – I was thoroughly impressed with this exhibit. The storytelling was a good blend of detail and overview to satisfy both the casual guest and the more ardent history enthusiast. Constructing the narrative around the throughline of the Forten family allowed for so many different areas of history to be brought together cohesively. It also helps that it was a really interesting story. It was a pleasure to see what kind of curatorial wizardry happened – and the fact that MoAR was able to contact direct descendants and locate family heirlooms that have never been shown to the public before helped make the Forten story immediate and ongoing. If you can take some time to click through the online version of the exhibit (linked above and below), I highly recommend it. The Forten story is fascinating and should be better known than it is.
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REFERENCES / CONTINUED READING
https://www.amrevmuseum.org/black-founders-virtual-tour
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Forten
https://motherbethel.org/our-pastoral-history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Female_Anti-Slavery_Society
https://www.theconstitutional.com/blog/2020/06/30/james-forten-one-americas-founding-fathers
https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-28C
Domer/in/DC...in phil'Delphia 