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:
“Men and women are not born inconstant: they are made so by their early amorous experiences.”
—Andre Maurois (18851967)
“Remember the rights of the savage, as we call him. Remember that the happiness of his humble home, remember that the sanctity of life in the hill villages of Afghanistan, among the winter snows, is as inviolable in the eye of Almighty God, as can be your own.”
—W.E. (William Ewart)
“It is hardly surprising that children should enthusiastically start their education at an early age with the Absolute Knowledge of computer science; while they are unable to read, for reading demands making judgments at every line.... Conversation is almost dead, and soon so too will be those who knew how to speak.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)