"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"

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 Dr. Cecil Bruce Ford

Dr. Cecil Bruce Ford was the son of Major Geroge W. Ford.  He married Florence Harrison and the couple had four children: Elise, Florence, Bruce and Harrison. His life is detailed in...

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Painting of George Washington

A painting of George Washington, the first president of the United States. He was born in 1732 and died in 1799 with supposedly no issue. The Ford family oral history relays a different story...

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Mount Vernon Plantation 1937

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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Major George Ford

Photo of an older Maj. George Ford. George Ford was the youngest child born on the Mount Vernon Plantation to William and Priscella Ford in 1847. Major Ford was educated on the Mount Vernon...

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Bushfield Plantation 1937

Photo of the Bushfield Plantation, 1937 from the Archives of MVLA. The manor house was totally different in design from George Washington’s Mount Vernon Palladian-style mansion. Bushfield...

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Angela Allen Henry

Angela Allen Henry at the Buffalo Soldier's Museum in 2018.  She was there for research on Major George Ford. Photo credit Homer Henry.

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Janet Allen with Flag

Author and writer Janet Allen

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Elise Ford Allen

Photo of Elise Ford Allen, first African American woman to edit and publish a newspaper in the state of Illinois - The Traveler Weekly.

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Barbara Allen F. Randle

Barbara Allen F. Randle, daughter of Elise Ford and James O. Allen. Barbara is married to Anthony Randle and she has one son, Michael D. Foster.

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Joy Allen Stone

Photo of Joy Allen Stone, daughter of Elise Ford and James O. Allen.  Joy has one son, Kenard Stone.

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Daniel Ford
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Julia Ford

Julia Ford was the daughter of West Ford and Priscella Bell. She married Corrill Rodgers who at the time was still a slave from another nearby plantation.They are believed to have had two...

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Jane Ford
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Gum Springs, Virginia
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George W. Ford, son of John Ford

George William Ford was the son of John and Charlotte Ford and was born in Gum Springs, Virginia. He married Irene Collins and the couple had 13 children: Reginia, Geraldine, Margarite,...

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Entry to the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery

Brick archway leading into the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery.

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Gregory Craig

Photo of Gregory Craig Mason.

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Grave headstone Dandrige Smith

Grave headstone of Dandrige Smith, son of Jane Ford and Porter Smith, grandson of West Ford. He was the husband of Annie Arnold Smith, Gum Springs first black schoolteacher. The headstone is...

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James Irvine Ford Draft Card

James Irvine Ford Draft Registration Card, World War II, 1942.

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Mount Vernon

The Mount Vernon Estate

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