Ford vs. Ford

This land was at the center of the historic court case Ford v. Ford. Loyd Ford (1748-1843) freed his five enslaved individuals and gave them his farm located here. His children challenged the will, and the five who were freed fought the case to the Tennessee Supreme Court. 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 enslaved humanity as both "persons and property." Those formerly enslaved won their case and kept their freedom and land, and the Tennessee Supreme Court's decision affirmed the legal right of those enslaved to bring suit to probate the will.

Gray, Tennessee · United States