Jeffrey Brace: First African American Citizen of Poultney
Source(s):
http://www.poultneyhistoricalsociety.org/about/jeffrey-brace-first-african-...

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Jeffery Brace was an African slave, Continental Army solider, freed slave and respected abolitionist.

Jeffery Brace was born in West Africa in 1742. He was captured by slave traders and eventually brought to America. He fought in the Seven Years War and then again in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary war hoping to gain his freedom. Once was granted his freedom, he moved to Vermont where he bought a farm, got married and had three children (along with two step-children). He lived until he was 85 years and became blind in his later years (there is a biography about him called "The Blind African Slave").
Source(s):
http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/books/2584.htm
The Blind African Slave: http://www.americanrevolution.org/rees.html
http://www.poultneyhistoricalsociety.org/about/jeffrey-brace-first-african-...

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Jeffrey Brace was a Black African Slave Whose birth Name Was Boyrereau Brinch. He was born in Mali in West Africa in circa 1762.

He came from a family that held high positions in his country. His father Whryn Brinch was Captain of the king's Life Guards, as was his grandfather.Jeffrey Brace was transported as a slave to Barbados and New England, before finally residing in Vermont.

You can read more about him from the sites listed below. Hope that helps you during this years black history month.
Source(s):
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/brinch/brinch.html
http://www.americanrevolution.org/rees.html
http://antislavery.eserver.org/narratives/braceblindafricanslave/
http://www.poultneyhistoricalsociety.org/about/jeffrey-brace-first-african-...

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