Born the son of a tribal prince in about the year of 1729 in an interior West African country, Broteer Furro, was from a cattle-herding people. His African name would be one of his memories of his homeland.
Venture
Smith was the name Broteer was given as a slave. His people in Africa were
invaded by an army of other Africans and forced to march nearly 400 miles to
the sea. Venture was probably 8 or 9 years old at the time. They were held in
the infamous “Slave Castle” (a fortress much more like a dungeon) on what is
now the coast of Ghana.
Venture
survived the barbaric “middle passage” on board the ship from Africa to
Barbados. He was named Venture by the man who decided to keep him as the ship continued
on its journey to Newport, Rhode Island.
Making
Freedom: The Extraordinary Life of Venture Smith details the
three slave masters he suffered under and his eventual freedom which he earned
by paying for it.
His
narrative was recorded by a school teacher named Elisha Niles and verified by
five prominent residents of New London, Connecticut.
I
especially liked this quotation from the Foreword of the book written by James
O. Horton: “Venture Smith’s story is also the iconic story of a self-made man
who struggled against the greatest of odds to become a successful entrepreneur.
This volume tells this story through the extraordinary life of a man one cannot
help but admire.”
Education
yourself about one of Connecticut’s most successful black entrepreneurs by
reading about Venture Smith!
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