Respectable. It is a word often associated with the accounts of the life of Amos Fortune, a former slave who made his home in Jaffrey in the late 1700s.
In her talk, “Honoring Amos Fortune’s Life and Legacy: On Witness, Justice and Respect,” during the opening lecture of the Amos Fortune Forum on Friday, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot reflected on the life of the forum’s namesake, and how much harder he would have had to strive to earn the title of “respectable” in the social climate of the pre-1800s.
Little is known about Fortune. It is known that he originally was owned by a tanner, who had promised to set him free, but died without leaving provision for Fortune’s freedom in his will. It took a further two years before his owners descendants kept that promise.
Fortune bought and freed two wives – one who died shortly after their marriage, and the other, Violet, who settled with him in Jaffrey, where the two adopted a daughter. And, by all accounts, was a successful and respected member of the community.
“Fully human, when the institution of slavery dictated that he was only partially human – in fact three-fifths human,” remarked Lawrence-Lightfoot.
Respect often calls to mind a heirarchy, said Lawrence-Lightfoot. But she implored the Amos Fortune Forum crowd to shift their perspective of respect. To view it as instead of deference to someone based on their position, to a new way of engaging someone. To respect their voice by listening
To be curious about them. To see respect as a relationship grounded in reciprocity and engagement, not merely the trappings of civility.