Free Frank McWorter

Free Frank McWorter (1777–September 7, 1854) was an American slave who bought his own freedom and in 1836 founded the town of New Philadelphia in Illinois; he was the first African American to found a town in the United States. The New Philadelphia Town Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2009.

In the late 20th century, a local history group recruited archaeologists to explore the long-abandoned town site. Teams from the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and De Paul University have worked for years on research and excavations, collected data about residents from census and land records, and turned up thousands of artifacts. In addition they have trained students at summer field schools, and published reports, articles, and books on the history of McWorter, his family and his town.

McWorter descendants donated the collected 11 volumes of documentation to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in February 2008. In addition the family donated a bronze bust of Frank McWorter by his great-great-granddaughter Shirley McWorter Moss.

Frank McWorter was born in 1777 into slavery in South Carolina to Juda, born in West Africa, abducted into slavery and transported to the colony. His father was likely her white master, George McWhorter, a Scots-Irish planter. According to family tradition, Juda had to convince McWhorter to allow his mixed-race son to live.

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