The Freedom Business: Connecticut Landscapes Through the Eyes of Venture Smith
By Marilyn Nelson
Softcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Lyme Historical Society (2006)
ISBN-10: 1-8808-9723-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-8808-9723-2
Product Size: 0.5 x 9 x 10.5 inches

This catalogue tells the true narrative of a slave from Africa, crafted in verse by Marilyn Nelson. Born an African prince, Broteer Furro was captured by slave traders at age six. As he boarded a cargo ship, the vessel’s steward purchased the boy and gave him a new name: Venture. He landed in Rhode Island and worked through a lifetime of slavery to buy not only his own freedom, but also the freedom of his wife and children. Remarkable in his own time for his ambition and physical stature, Venture Smith became history’s first man to document both his capture from Africa and life as an American slave.

This catalogue accompanied a 2006-2007 exhibition of The Freedom Business: Connecticut Landscapes Through the Eyes of Venture Smith at the Florence Griswold Museum. This volume features 14 original poems by Marilyn Nelson paired with Impressionist paintings from the Museum’s collection that retell the remarkable life of Venture Smith.