Discover the story of Fort Mose in the only book for children about
the first free Black community in America
In 1724, Francisco Menendez escaped from a plantation in the colony of
South Carolina and, with a small group of men, headed south to Florida,
at the time a Spanish colony, to the town of St. Augustine. There he was
granted his freedom. He soon became a member of the Black militia and
helped defend the area from English invaders. In 1738, Menendez helped
found the first legally sanctioned free Black community in America. It
was called Fort Mose, and it lay just north of St. Augustine.
There were thirty-eight households of men, women, and children living
together at Fort Mose, creating a frontier community that drew on a
range of African backgrounds and blended them with the local Spanish,
Native American, and English peoples and cultures. Fort Mose became a
southern destination for travelers of the Underground Railroad many
years before the birth of its legendary "conductor," Harriet Tubman.