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Year: 1884

Who: John P. Parker

Where: Ripley, Ohio

What: John P. Parker was a remarkable figure whose life story embodies courage, ingenuity, and resilience. Born into slavery in Norfolk, Virginia, to a slave mother and white father, Parker was sold at the age of eight and forced to walk to Richmond before being purchased by a physician in Mobile, Alabama. Despite laws prohibiting the education of enslaved people, Parker learned to read and write while working as a domestic servant. During his apprenticeship in an iron foundry, Parker’s mechanical aptitude began to shine. He attempted escape but ultimately earned his freedom in 1845 by purchasing it for $1,800, a significant sum he saved through hard work and determination.

After gaining his freedom, Parker settled in Ripley, Ohio, a center of abolitionist activity. There, he married Miranda Boulden, and the couple raised seven children, all of whom attended college and pursued professional careers, a testament to Parker’s commitment to education and progress. As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Parker risked his life to guide hundreds of enslaved individuals across the Ohio River to freedom, often venturing into Kentucky to carry out daring rescues. His activism defied the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and earned him a $1,000 bounty on his head.

In addition to his abolitionist work, Parker was a prolific inventor and industrialist. He patented several mechanical inventions, including a tobacco press and a pulverizer, making him one of the few African Americans to hold patents before 1900. Parker co-founded the Ripley Foundry and Machine Company, later establishing the Phoenix Foundry, which became a regional industrial hub. Parker’s legacy endures through the preservation of his home as a National Historic Landmark and his autobiography, His Promised Land, which provides a vivid account of his extraordinary life and contributions to freedom and innovation.

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