Free Frank McWorter
Deceased Person
1777 – 1854
Who was Free Frank McWorter?
Free Frank McWorter was an American slave who bought his own freedom and in 1836 founded the town of New Philadelphia in Illinois; he was the first African American to found a town in the United States. The New Philadelphia Town Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2009.
In the late 20th century, a local history group recruited archaeologists to explore the long-abandoned town site. Teams from the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and De Paul University have worked for years on research and excavations, collected data about residents from census and land records, and turned up thousands of artifacts. In addition they have trained students at summer field schools, and published reports, articles, and books on the history of McWorter, his family and his town.
McWorter descendants donated the collected 11 volumes of documentation to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in February 2008. In addition the family donated a bronze bust of Frank McWorter by his great-great-granddaughter Shirley McWorter Moss.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- 1777
Union County - Ethnicity
- African American
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Lived in
- South Carolina
- Died
- 1854
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Free Frank McWorter." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/free_frank_mcworter>.
Discuss this Free Frank McWorter biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In