Free Frank: A Black Pioneer on the Antebellum Frontier

By Juliet E.K. Walker

Book Overview

The story of Free Frank is not only a testament to human courage and resourcefulness but affords new insight into the American frontier. Born a slave in the South Carolina piedmont in 1777, Frank died a free man in 1854 in a town he had founded in western Illinois. His accomplishments, creditable for any frontiersman, were for a black man extraordinary. We first learn details of Frank's life when in 1795 his owner moved to Pulaski County, Kentucky. We know that he married Lucy, a slave on a neighboring farm, in 1799. Later he was allowed to hire out his time, and when his owner moved to Tennessee, Frank was left in charge of the Kentucky farm. During the War of 1812, he set up his own saltpeter works, an enterprise he maintained until he left Kentucky. In 1817 he purchased his wife's freedom for $800; two years later he bought his own liberty for the same price. Now free, he expanded his activities, purchasing land and dealing in livestock. With his wife and four of his children, Free Frank left Kentucky in 1830 to settle on a new frontier. In Pike County, Illinois, he purchased a farm and later, in 1836, platted and successfully promoted the town of New Philadelphia. The desire for freedom was an obvious spur to his commercial efforts. Through his lifetime of work he purchased the liberty of sixteen members of his family at a cost of nearly $14,000. Goods and services commanded a premium in the life of the frontier. Free Frank's career shows what an exceptional man, through working against great odds, could accomplish through industry, acumen, and aggressiveness. His story suggests a great deal about business activity and legal practices, as well as racial conditions, on the frontier. Juliet Walker has performed a task of historical detection in recreating the life of Free Frank from family traditions, limited personal papers, public documents, and secondary sources. In doing so, she has added a significant chapter to the history of African Americans.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813108403
• ISBN13: 9780813108407
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Free Frank: A Black Pioneer on the Antebellum Frontier

This is the most fascinating book I have ever read regarding what a person can do when he puts himself into it. Amazing sacrifice, determination and hard work, that was Frank McWhorter. A must read if you want to see a view of the mid 19th century by reading the life of a man who came out of slavery and lived in extreme hardship with integrity seldom seen these days.

History you never knew

This book is about a great man overcoming the odds. This book explains a lot about our early settlers and how slavery played an imprtant part of that development. The author did great research to give a true account of the life and times of "Free Frank". This should be read by all who want to hear the true story.

inspirational, amazing, and entertaining

Walker wrote this biography of an ancestor who is a remarkable figure in American history. Born a slave, Free Frank used his free time on evenings and Sundays to extract saltpeter from guano in Kentucky, as well as surveying land, and made enough money to first buy his wife out of slavery, then, with her income as a freewoman, to buy himself out of slavery. His industry, sterling character, and persistence eventually allowed him to become wealthy as a real estate developer on the Illinois frontier. He bought all of his children out of slavery, and upon his death, all of his grandchildren as well. And he did it all without ever learning to write.While certainly atypical, he is a reminder that even though the legal system was set up to the detriment of blacks throughout the slave states, it was possible for a slave with a careless or sympathetic master to become free -- and once free, to become wealthy. This is an inspiring story. Just don't read this one book and assume that you know everything you need to know about American slavery. This is the encouraging reminder that even a bigoted legal system wasn't enough to keep a hard worker from moving ahead in the relatively free market of the American frontier.