Venture Smith

Venture Smith (1729-1805) was an African American writer and former slave. Born Broteer Furro in West Africa, Smith was stolen at the age of six and sold into slavery on the Gold Coast. Purchased by Robinson Mumford of Rhode Island for seveal gallons of rum and a length of calico, he was renamed “Venture” and put to work at his enslaver’s home. Tortured from a young age by Mumford’s son, Smith attempted to escape in 1754 but was forced to return soon thereafter. Sold to Thomas Stanton in Connecticut, Smith was separated from his wife Meg and daughter Hannah. Abused by Stanton and his brother, Smith forced them to sell him to a slaveowner who would allow him to work for his freedom. In 1765, Smith paid 71 pounds to liberate himself from Oliver Smith, later settling on Long Island and working to pay for his family to join him. Written while Smith was living on his own farm along the Salmon River in Connecticut, A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture (1798) is a groundbreaking work of African American autobiography that has been recognized by scholars as one of the first of its kind by a formerly enslaved person.