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It鈥檚 the late 1730s. A young boy, son of a West African prince, watches as an invading army kills his father.
He鈥檚 captured and marched hundreds of miles to the coast. There he鈥檚 put on a ship and traded for 鈥渇our gallons of rum and piece of calico.鈥�
The boy鈥檚 name is Broteer Furro.
History will remember him as Venture Smith, whose 18th-century narrative is the earliest published narrative of slavery in the Americas. It鈥檚 also one of the few published accounts of slavery in New England. Thousands of people were enslaved across the region.
Today, more people are learning about Venture, in part because his narrative was published, but also because descendants who know his history are working to keep his story alive.
鈥淒espite everything that happened to him, he was determined to live his life as a free man,鈥� says Susi Ryan, Venture鈥檚 ninth-generation descendant.
鈥淗e actually stood his ground,鈥� she continues. 鈥淎nd when a Black person says 鈥業鈥檓 going to stand my ground,鈥� or 鈥榮tand for who I am,鈥� that feels like a threat to a lot of people.鈥�
鈥楢 good venture鈥�
Venture Smith鈥檚 narrative was published in 1798. It鈥檚 a harrowing tale, a story from a man who stood up for family and freedom.
But before the kidnapped boy arrives in New England, he faces a nightmarish trip called the Middle Passage.
This voyage, , was one of disease and death.
For Broteer, the journey also includes a captor stripping him of his name.
鈥淗e gave him the name 鈥榁enture,鈥� because it was a good venture for him to purchase this young child,鈥� Ryan says.
According to Venture鈥檚 narrative, 60 of the 260 enslaved people aboard the ship that brought him to New England die of smallpox.
Most survivors of the voyage are sold in Barbados. But the boy continues on to colonial America 鈥� not to the South, but to the North.
He鈥檚 taken to Rhode Island. He grows up enslaved along coastal New England, eventually marrying and having a child.
Then, only about a month after his daughter is born, Venture is sold to Thomas Stanton II of Stonington, 黑料吃瓜网.
鈥楾he scar of it remains鈥�
The sale separates Venture from his wife Meg and their child. But one year later, Stanton buys them, too. The couple would eventually have three more children.
They also would have violent conflicts with the Stanton family.
One day when Stanton was away, Venture hears a commotion in the house and finds Stanton's wife beating Meg. Venture asks Meg to apologize so this would end, but Stanton's wife begins beating Venture with a whip. He grabs the whip and throws it in the fire.
Days later, Venture describes the consequences in his narrative.
鈥淚n the morning as I was putting on a log in the fire-place, not suspecting harm from any one, I received a most violent stroke on the crown of my head with a club two feet long and as large round as a chair-post. This blow very badly wounded my head, and the scar of it remains to this day."
He鈥檚 sold again.
Venture is determined to reunite his family, so he spends years performing extra labor 鈥� fishing, cutting wood and farming 鈥� to save the money to buy his freedom.
At the age of 36, he succeeds. He pays 71 pounds and two shillings 鈥� a massive sum 鈥� to purchase his freedom.
鈥淢y freedom is a privilege which nothing else can equal,鈥� Venture writes in his narrative.
He buys 26 acres of land in Stonington. The land is directly next door to the property where his family is still enslaved. It allows Venture to watch over his loved ones.
The 鈥榠ntimacy鈥� of this land
As John Wood Sweet walks through the land today, his mind harkens back to over 200 years ago.
鈥淭his is a site that represents the way slavery tore families apart,鈥� Sweet says. 鈥淎nd how hard enslaved people, and free people, worked to reunite their families.鈥�
Today, the land where Venture used to be enslaved is known as the , filled with trees and forests.
Sweet, who is writing a book about Venture, walks down a centuries-old pathway that leads to a clearing 鈥� and the stone foundation walls for a small dwelling house.
Researchers have confirmed Venture Smith built this home as a freedman. He lived here while working to save money to buy his wife and children.
鈥淭he intimacy of this tract with the Stanton farm is a testament to his desire to be a good husband, to be a good father, to be connected to his family even though legal ownership was separating them,鈥� Sweet says.
Venture would work for years to save money to buy freedom for his family.
In 1769, he purchased the freedom of his two sons, Solomon and Cuff. Solomon would later go to work in Rhode Island and die of scurvy on a whaling expedition.
In either 1773 or 1774, Venture purchased his wife, Meg, who was pregnant with their fourth child, a boy who they also named Solomon.
Two years later, Venture also bought his oldest child, Hannah.
Historians know all of this because decades after purchasing this land in Stonington, Venture Smith would recount his life story.
鈥淎 Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, A Native of Africa: But Resident Above Sixty Years in the United States of America鈥� was published in 1798. It stands as one of the first known eyewitness accounts of slavery in the United States.
Seeing the land, Sweet says, brings that history to life.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important 鈥� when you have a narrative like Venture Smith that challenges common narratives of American history 鈥� to be able to root him in an actual physical landscape to demonstrate that events that he describes happening did happen,鈥� Sweet says.
In 1774, Venture sold the land in Stonington. With the proceeds, he purchased a plot about 40 miles away on Haddam Neck on the 黑料吃瓜网 River.
He became a busy entrepreneur, farming, logging, fishing and trading along the river.
His property grew to more than 100 acres.
鈥業 had never felt anything like that before鈥�
Venture Smith died in 1805. He鈥檚 buried at in East Haddam, 黑料吃瓜网.
Each year, his descendants meet there to honor him.
On a beautiful sunny day in early September, people sit around chatting.
A quilting guild, led by Venture鈥檚 descendant Susi Ryan, pins several colorful quilts onto the side of a small shed nearby.
There are about 100 people here, including roughly 30 descendants of Venture Smith. They pose for a family photograph near his grave.
Amina Merritt, a descendant of Venture, flew in from California.
鈥淭he first time I came and I put my hand on the headstone. And I fell to my knees and cried uncontrollably,鈥� Merritt says. 鈥淚 had never felt anything like that before.鈥�
Merritt discovered her family history through a letter from Karl Stofko, East Haddam鈥檚 longtime town historian.
Weaving through the gathered descendants, Stofko approaches Venture鈥檚 grave and reads the headstone.
鈥淪acred to the memory of Venture Smith, an African, the son of a king. He was kidnapped and sold. But by his industry he acquired money to purchase his freedom.鈥�
The fact that Venture鈥檚 headstone is here is a bit of a historical anachronism, Stofko says. In the early 1800s, it was unusual for any out-of-towners to be buried at this cemetery.
But Venture鈥檚 industry earned him a place. Stofko says records show how Smith and his sons cut down trees and helped build the nearby church.
The burial plot was their payment.
But even in death, Stofko says, some would shun Venture and his family.
鈥淲hen he died, there was nothing anywhere around him,鈥� Stofko says. 鈥淎nd nobody wanted to be buried [near him] 鈥� because he was Black.鈥�
鈥榃e need to be careful鈥�
Today, that grave does the opposite, attracting visitors from across the country seeking to honor Venture Smith and connect with his legacy.
Corinne Henry Brady, a descendant of Venture Smith who lives in Rhode Island, remembers hearing tales of him when she was a child.
鈥淢y dad used to tell stories. But I didn't believe him,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he way he talked about Venture was almost like he was a mythical figure 鈥� lifting rocks and this big strong guy, I didn't really think that he was real.鈥�
Eventually, Brady traveled to Ghana, where Venture was captured and enslaved, to visit Cape Coast Castle. That old slave trading outpost was where kidnapped Africans were walked under an arch called the 鈥淒oor of No Return鈥� and transferred onto slave ships.
鈥淲e walked through the Door of No Return 鈥� And I was able to bring my father's ashes back to Africa. So it was very moving,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t really helped me to understand who I was 鈥� and who I am and where I came from.鈥�
Today, more and more people are learning about Venture Smith. His narrative helps to preserve his experience, but so do his descendants.
Still, society should be careful with stories of Black people who may be perceived as unique or exceptional, says Akeia de Barros Gomes, a visiting scholar at Brown University鈥檚 Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.
鈥淢y mind always goes to how many more Venture Smiths would there have been had racism and slavery not been a factor in their daily lives?鈥� she says.
鈥淭hey are really important stories because they highlight the ingenuity and the creativity of the enslaved and the free. But we need to be careful to make sure that we are not somehow saying that individuals like Venture Smith are different from the rest of the Black population.鈥�
Venture Smith shared his story. Now, history is waiting for more, says Susi Ryan, his descendant.
鈥淭he history of enslaved people, it鈥檚 out there,鈥� Ryan says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not uncovered.鈥�
Read more from Unforgotten: 黑料吃瓜网's Hidden History of Slavery
Chapter 2: 鈥楾his is my country': A family learns their ancestors were enslaved in 黑料吃瓜网
About the series: Why we're reporting on 黑料吃瓜网's history of slavery
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