Ford vs. Ford

Loyd Ford (1748-1843) freed his five enslaved individuals and gave them his farm located here, but his children challenged the will, leading the five who were freed to fight the case up to the Tennessee Supreme Court in the historic case of Ford v. Ford. In 1846, Judge Nathan Green authored an opinion ruling that an enslaved individual is "Not in the Condition of a horse or an ox … he is made in the image of his creator." The state's highest court recognized the enslaved humanity as both "persons and property," and those formerly enslaved won their case, kept their freedom and land, and secured affirmation of the legal right of those enslaved to bring suit to probate a will.

Tennessee · United States