"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids--and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."
- Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man"
Locations
A 1937 painting of the Mount Vernon Mansion (from the MVLA). George Washington's father, Augustine Washington, built the home in 1734. George's older brother, Lawrence lived at...
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Photo of the Mount Vernon Plantation when West Ford was a caretaker there. (Photo courtesy of MVLA). Pamela Cunningham founded the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union and wanted...
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The Mansion house is approximately 3500 square feet with 21 ones. West Ford was instrumental in telling the MVLA when they bought the property about the original room decor (I Cannot Tell...
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Present day photo along a walk way to the slave cabins. Photo from collection LABH.
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Photo of Janet Allen, Linda Allen Hollis, Judy Burton and Joy Allen Stone on a visit to Mount Vernon. From LABH collection.
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View of the Potomac River at Mount Vernon. The two-story porch faces the river. From LABH collection.
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Photo of Linda at the old tomb of George Washington on the Mount Vernon plantation. There are two family tombs located at Mount Vernon. The "old tomb" was the original family crypt,...
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This is a moument placed in the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery titled "Life Unfinished". The slave cemetery is considered sacred ground for the slaves and freed blacks who worked at the...
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A wreath dedicated to West Ford at the slave cemetery at Mount Vernon. From LABH collection.
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This is a plaque that was placed at the entry of the Mount Vernon Slave cemtery for slave burial area. It mentions West Ford: West Ford (1784-1863), a freed slave who was hird by the...
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Photo of the cousins Linda and Judith at Mount Vernon Plantation. The ladies were on an official visit to present documentation on the Ford family legacy.
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Photo from the LABH collection.
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Major George Ford was born in the room above the spinning room on the Mount Vernon Plantation.
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Coach at Mount Vernon. From LABH collection.
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Photo of a fireplace from the slave quarters at Mount Vernon. From LABH collection.
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Angela Allen Henry on the steps of Camp Butler Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. Major George Ford became the first African American superintendent in1906 at Camp Butler. Photo by Homer...
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Some of the Allen Family members on a visit to Camp Butler Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois where James O. Allen, Major George Ford, Dr. Cecil Bruce Ford, Florence Ford, and C. Bruce Ford are...
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Camp Bulter admin building in Springfield, Illinois. Photo by Angela Allen Henry.
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Tombstones and gazebo at Camp Butler Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois. Photo by Angela Allen Henry.
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Sibllings visiting family graves at Camp Butler Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois 2018. From left to right, Linda Allen B. Hollis, Angela Allen Henry, Barbara Allen Randle, and James Allen...
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