Venture Smith’s courageous journey from slavery to freedom, by Gift Luckson Venture Smith (1729–1805) was a remarkable African man who survived enslavement and left one of the earliest first-person accounts of slavery in America. Origin Venture Smith was born Broteer Furro in present-day Guinea (West Africa) around 1729. At age 6, he was captured during a raid and sold into slavery. Enslavement He was transported to Rhode Island and given the name Venture by his enslaver, Captain Smith (hence Venture Smith). Smith renamed him because he considered purchasing him to be a business "venture". Venture was bought with...