Born a slave in 1856, this native Floridian came to New York and then New Jersey and became one of the most powerful advocates for equal economic opportunity and social justice.
Timothy Thomas Fortune lent a powerful voice to the cause of social justice and equal economic opportunity in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the man behind the voice was born in the most modest of circumstances.
Fortune was born a slave in Florida in 1856 and was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation seven years later.
After attending Howard University, Fortune became owner and editor of several black newspapers in New York, including The New York Globe and the New York Age.
Fortune used his newspapers to continually advocate for opportunity for Black citizens and loudly protest discrimination and lynchings. Before long his candid commentary made him one of the leading Black journalists in turn-of-the-20th-Century America.
In 1890 Fortune helped created the Afro-American League one of the first equal rights organizations in the United States. It was a precursor to the National for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Fortune continued his powerful advocacy right up until his death in 1928.
In 1901, Fortune moved from New York to Red Bank, New Jersey where the Fortune family moved into an elegant Victorian house at 94 Drs James Parker Boulevard which they christened “Maple Hill.” The house became a cultural and political center for the area’s Black community.
Fortune would live there seven years and his family four additional years. The Fortune house was named a National Historic Landmark in 1976. The house was restored in 2019 and today it is the home of the T. Thomas Fortune Foundation and Cultural Center dedicated to preserving the legacy of Fortune and his causes.
