Early Life and Education
He was named April when born into slavery on a plantation near Winnsboro, South Carolina; the name indicating the month he was born, a common slave-naming practice at the time. In 1800-1802 he was documented as owned by William Ellison of Fairfield County, the son of Robert Ellison, a planter. Either man could have fathered April.
William Ellison apprenticed April at age 10 to a cotton gin maker, William McCreight of Winnsboro. This would provide him with a valuable trade to make a living as an adult. Completing his apprenticeship after six years, April continued to work at the shop. His earnings went to his master, as he was considered to be "hired out." He continued to learn the variety of complex skills related to cotton gin making and repair.
Read more about this topic: William Ellison
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or education:
“For with this desire of physical beauty mingled itself early the fear of death—the fear of death intensified by the desire of beauty.”
—Walter Pater 1839–1894, British writer, educator. originally published in Macmillan’s Magazine (Aug. 1878)
“If we live in the Nineteenth Century, why should we not enjoy the advantages which the Nineteenth Century offers? Why should our life be in any respect provincial?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A good education ought to help people to become both more receptive to and more discriminating about the world: seeing, feeling, and understanding more, yet sorting the pertinent from the irrelevant with an ever finer touch, increasingly able to integrate what they see and to make meaning of it in ways that enhance their ability to go on growing.”
—Laurent A. Daloz (20th century)