Today In Black History: Nelson Gant
From slave to wealthy entrepreneur and Underground Station Master
Issue #771 Today In Black History, Monday, December 2, 2024
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Nelson Gant was born a slave in 1821 in Loudoun County, Virginia. In 1846, he was granted his freedom by the owner who had held him in bondage. However, Gant's wife, Anna Maria, remained enslaved.
He set about trying to earn enough money to buy his wife’s freedom. He had to do this within a year because of a Virginia law that stated any freed slave who remained in the state could be forced back into enslavement after one year’s time. After a year of selling firewood, Gant was met with disappointment as Anna Maria’s owner, Jane Russell, refused to sell her.
Gant decided to gain her freedom by helping her escape. Unfortunately, he and his wife were caught, jailed, and forced to stand trial. Anna Maria was threatened with re-enslavement if she didn’t testify against her husband, but she refused. Finally, in an extraordinary recognition of slave marriage, Nelson and Anna Maria Gant were acquitted, and the couple settled in Zanesville, Ohio.
With the help of several abolitionists in Zanesville, Gant was able to purchase about 140 acres of land. He built a home on that land and soon began working with his wife to help others escape slavery by opening their home as a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Later, Gant purchased 160 more acres of land containing a coal mine and salt lick. He became a wealthy businessman and farmer. Later, part of his land would be made into a public park named Gant’s Grove.
Gant and his wife had 12 children; unfortunately, only four lived to adulthood. His former home is now a state landmark owned by the Nelson T. Gant Foundation. Its mission is to preserve the house and develop it into a historical, educational, and cultural facility that tells the story of Gant and the Underground Railroad.
Nelson Gant died in 1905, a former slave who became a wealthy entrepreneur, stationmaster on the Underground Railroad, and community builder.
Today In Black History
In 1859, abolitionist John Brown was hanged for murder, treason, and promoting slave revolts.
In 1884, Black inventor Granville T. Woods patented the telephone transmitter.
In 1891, 113 Blacks were reported lynched.
In 1891, North Carolina A&T College, Delaware State College, and West Virginia State College were established.
In 1922, internationally acclaimed Black tenor Roland Hayes became the first Black to sing in the Symphony Hall in Boston.
In 1969, Black inventor Marie V. Brittan Brown patented a home security system.
In 1975, Ohio State running back Archie Griffin was the first to win the Heisman Trophy twice.
In 1989, Andre Ware of the University of Houston became the first African American quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy.
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