Meet the man who escaped slavery and made a fortune in the old West – over and over again, Barney Lancelot Ford (1822 -1902) and became the Black Baron of #Colorado. Barney’s mother, a house slave, knew that education was the key to freedom and his first “primer” was a dictionary. Barney learned to read with the help of another slave on an adjoining plantation. The wife of his first owner sold him to Matt Bartlet for $490. Matt was a trader and took Barney with him when he traveled. Barney was given an education and went to church with this Quaker family. He worked on riverboats and learned the art of hospitality. An actor on the riverboat helped Barney escape by dressing him like a woman and they simply walked off to freedom. Later, Barney went to Chicago and met free Black, Henry O. Wagoner who introduced him to his sister-in-law, Julia, who would become his wife. Julia encouraged him to choose his own name, so he chose Lancelot Ford after the train engine. While working as a barber, Barney Lancelot Ford heard stories of the #GoldRush in Colorado and was off to find his fortune. Barney would pan for gold, build a hotel, have a barber shop, a restaurant named People’s Restaurant, work in #Cheyenne and come back to Colorado in Breckenridge and became known as the Black Baron of Colorado. Nothing could stop this man from rising from despair to success, every time he faced an obstacle. Later in his life he turned his efforts to getting the right to vote and he played an important role in the Underground Railroad. 
Via
#Colorado