Lott Cary

Lott Cary (also in records as Lott Carey) (1780 – November 10, 1828) was an American Baptist minister and lay physician, who was instrumental in the founding of the Colony of Liberia in the 1820s in Africa. Born into slavery in Charles City County, Virginia, he purchased his freedom and that of his children at the age of 33 after saving money from being hired out in Richmond.

When he migrated to Liberia in 1821, he was one of the first black American missionaries, as well as the first American Baptist missionary, to Africa. He established its first church, founded schools for natives, and helped lead the colony.

In 1780 Lott Cary was born into slavery and humble surroundings in Charles City County, Virginia, on the plantation of John Bowry.

In 1804, his master, a planter and Methodist minister, hired Cary out as a young man in Richmond, about 25 miles away. He was hired out by the year at the Shockoe tobacco warehouse.

In 1807 Cary joined the First Baptist Church of Richmond, originally a congregation of both whites and blacks, free and slave. During the Great Awakening and religious revivals, Baptist and Methodist preachers recruited many slaves into their congregations. He was baptised by its pastor, John Courtney. Beginning his education by learning to read the Bible, Cary later attended a small school for slaves. Its twenty young men were taught by Deacon William Crane. He had come from Newark, New Jersey in 1812, opened a shoe store and joined the First Baptist Church. Crane's students met three evenings each week to learn reading, writing, arithmetic, and the Bible.

As he became educated, Cary rose from working as a common laborer to become a shipping clerk and supervisor of tobacco workers in a warehouse along Tobacco Row in Richmond. Because of his diligence and valuable work, Cary was often rewarded by his master with five-dollar bills from the money he earned. He was also permitted to collect and sell small bags of waste tobacco for his own profit.

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