Yarrow mammoet biography examples pdf

From Slave Ship to Harvard is the true story of an African American family in Maryland over six generations.

Yarrow Mamout c. An educated Fulani Muslim, he gained his freedom in after 44 years held in bondage. Yarrow was born in West Africa circa A member of the Fulani people, he spoke the Fula language and could read and write Arabic and rudimentary English. He became Beall's manservant and later served his son, Brooke.

Yarrow Mamout by James Alexander Simpson, , image courtesy of District of Columbia Library Yarrow Mamout’s likeness was captured not once but twice as this second portrait .

By , Yarrow had moved with Beall to Georgetown and begun hiring himself out for wages. According to contemporary sources, Beall required him to turn over wages he earned during the day but allowed him to keep wages he received for nocturnal work. He became a jack of all trades , working as a brickmaker, charcoal burner, basket weaver, cart driver, and stevedore, working long hours to earn enough money to buy his freedom.

After 44 years in slavery, Yarrow was freed at the age of 60 when Brooke Beall died in , manumitted by his enslavers who believed he was too old to work anymore. Little is known of the boy's mother. He constructed a log house on the land. He remained a devout, lifelong Muslim, praying regularly and avoiding the consumption of pork and liquor. Hayman defaulted on the loan after Yarrow's death, but Nancy Hillman, the daughter of Yarrow's sister, sued to recoup the loss in Yarrow died on January 19, , at the approximate age of According to his obituary, penned by Charles Willson Peale , he was buried in the corner of his yard where he was accustomed to pray; however, a archaeological dig failed to unearth any remains.

Two years after his father's death, Aquilla purchased a farm in Washington County, Maryland , and moved there with his wife, Mary "Polly" Turner, a midwife and former slave.