James Forten

2023 Honoree

JAMES FORTEN, posthumously of the great state of Pennsylvania, as a Forgotten Patriot of the American Revolution.

An African American abolitionist and wealthy businessman who made his fortune after the American Revolutionary War. He used his wealth and social standing to work for civil rights for African Americans nationwide, including opposition to the colonization movements, particularly that of the American Colonization Society. He was a major contributor to the William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist newspaper The Liberator.