Venture Smith (Birth name: Broteer Furro) (c. 1729 – 1805) was an African farmer, whaler,  craftsman, and businessman. Smith was kidnapped when he was six and a half years old in West Africa and was taken to Anomabo on the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) to be sold into slavery[1]. As an adult, he purchased his freedom and that of his family. He documented his life in “A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture.” [1] This autobiography is one of the earliest known examples of an autobiographical narrative in an entirely African American literary veritas, with only about a dozen archival first-hand accounts of their experiences.