Excerpt from The Freedmen's Book By Lydia Maria Francis Child Published 1866

James Forten


He likewise told me of a vessel engaged in the slave trade the owners of which applied to him for rigging. He indignantly refused declaring that he considered such a request an insult to any honest or humane man. He always had the cause of the oppressed colored people warmly at heart and was desirous to do everything in his power for their improvement and elevation.