See Book: Juliet E. K. Walker, Free Frank: A Black Pioneer on the Antebellum Frontier (Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 1983, 1995) The First & The Only Scholarly Historical Book Ever Written About FREE FRANK' MCWORTER'S Life (1777-1854). The Only Authoritative, Carefully Researched, Documented History of Free Frank's Founding of New Philadelphia (1836), its Growth as a Pioneer Frontier Town in the (1850s) and New Philadelphia's Death, as a Town in (1869). "A SPLENDID HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY…. WALKER PRESENTS A VIVID DESCRIPTION OF THE RIGORS OF LIFE FOR SLAVES AND WHITES AS WELL AS THE DYNAMICS OF RACE RELATIONS ON THE FRONTIER….MAKES CAPTIVATING READING"- - American Historical Review. "A STORY OF COURAGE, RESOLUTENESS AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT. WELL-ORGANIZED AND WELL- WRITTEN, THIS BOOK DEMONSTRATES HISTORICAL DETECTIVE WORK AT ITS BEST"- - Louisville Courier Journal "THIS USEFUL BOOK WILL DISPEL MANY MYTHS ABOUT SUPPOSED FREE BLACK DOCILITY IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA..SHOWS HOW SAVY AND CAPITALISM WORKED TO ALLOW ONE BLACK MAN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SPACE TO FORGE HIS OWN DESTINY." LIBRARY JOURNAL " A COMPELLING HISTORY OF AN EXTRAORDINARY AMERICAN…. DOCUMENTED STUDIES OF NINETEENTH CENTURY BLACK AMERICANS WILL REMAIN FEW IN NUMBER AND FREE FRANK WILL STAND OUT AMONG THEM"- - Wall Street Review of Books. "A VALUABLE ADDITION TO THE LITERATURE ON AFRO-AMERICANS." Minority News Review Juliet E.K. Walker. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. Twayne's Evolution of Modern Business Series. New York: Macmillan Press, 1998. xxv + 482 pp. Bibliographical references and index. $56.25 (cloth), ISBN 0-805-71650-5. Reviewed by: Included in the H-Business (June, 1999) review by Professor Maceo Dailey , University of Texas El Paso, review of Professor Walker's book, The History of Black Business In America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship, was the following comments, which included assessment of Free Frank. As Professor Dailey stated: Juliet E. K. Walker makes a magnificent contribution to the literature on African American entrepreneurship and capitalism. Shattering myths, pointing to possibilities, and refining our thinking about procrustean racism, Professor Walker explores perceptively a world where blacks have been much maligned and vilified as incapable of mastering simple and/or world-shaking business attitudes and skills. Writing boldly in her introduction, the author quickly alerts us to the value of the book: "Beginning in l600s, Africans in America, slave and free, seized every opportunity to develop enterprises and participate as businesspeople in the commercial life of a developing new nation ... Why, after almost 400 years do we find black business activities in the late twentieth century existing at virtually the same level of industry participation as it did under slavery?" From the first page of the book, we are carried through the maze of history to the answer: one that lies not in when-the-sinner-comes-to-the-mourner's-bench bromides, but the very serious and destructive practice of American racism preventing blacks from access to resources and fair opportunities to develop. Professor Walker invites us to review and put asunder the old foolishness, the blaming the victim ad hominem argument, that black business failure and/or limited growth were rooted in African inexperience turned into African American ineptitude and lassitude. Professor Walker was inspired to take up the question of the African American business ethos owing to the family lesson and lore of her great-great-grandfather, Free Frank (l777-1854), who entered the realm of commerce and business with good intentions that got good results. Previous scholars would have us belief that Free Frank was an anomaly in his determination and his more than modicum of success. Though he "could not read or write ... he could count," notes Walker. Free Frank established his own saltpeter (gunpowder) manufacturing business. He used profits to purchase his wife's freedom. In the intricacies of the slave world, Free Frank occupied a "triple status" as entrepreneur, intrapreneur, and field laborer, respectively operating his own business, managing his absentee owner's farm, and producing as a worker. If Free Frank was in an awkward situation, he nonetheless made the best of circumstances in a world driven by capitalism. In this, he found himself within, as well as inspiration for, a great tradition of black men and women in business--dealing with the hard and unfair, but constantly showing resolve. If the stories of Free Frank and other African American business individuals were unappreciated by contemporaries, historians have compounded the ignorance by omitting black entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs from any serious discussion of the nexus between American racism and capitalism. In 1990, then Illinois State Representative Tom Ryder said: Whereas: Ms. Walker, a history professor at the University of Illinois retraced Free Frank McWorter's 400 mile trail From Pulaski County, Kentucky, to Pike County, Illinois From September 20 to October 6, 1990 and: Whereas, Free Frank McWorter's' grave is one of only three in Illinois listed in the National Register of Historic Places: and: Whereas, It is an honor to recognize the considerable entrepreneurial role of Free Frank McWorter in pre-Civil War Society, Thereby, be it Resolved, By the House of Representative of the Eighty-Sixth General Assembly of the State of Illinois that we recognize the life and work of Free Frank McWorter and commend the work of Juliet Walker to bring his contributions to our attention.