Red Bank in Monmouth County, New Jersey — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Maple Hall
The Home of T. Thomas Fortune
— Historic Site in Journalism —
Photographed By Lynn Humphrey, September 10, 2022
1. Maple Hall Marker
Known for his hundreds of editorials agitating against discrimination, lynching, and disenfranchisement, Fortune entertained African American leaders such as Booker T. Washington at Maple Hall. Fortune resided in the house until his separation from his wife, Carrie, who continued to live here with their son, Frederick, until about 1911. The house fell into disrepair in the early twenty-first century and was threatened with demolition until purchased by developer Roger Mumford in 2017 and donated to preservationists who opened a cultural center in 2019.
T. Thomas Fortune House, “Maple Hall.” In 1976 this house was designated as a National Historic Landmark and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.
Erected 2019 by Society of Professional Journalists.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Architecture • Civil Rights • Notable Buildings. A significant historical date for this entry is October 3, 1856.
Location. 40° 20.508′ N, 74° 4.344′ W. Marker is in Red Bank
this page online
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. A different marker also named Maple Hall (a few steps from this marker); Honorable Daniel J. O’Hern (approx. half a mile away); William “Count” Basie (approx. half a mile away); Gate Keepers Booth (approx. half a mile away); Red Bank War Memorial (approx. 0.6 miles away); Harriet LaFetra (1823-1906) (approx. 1.3 miles away); Quaker Meeting (approx. 1.4 miles away); Shrewsbury Historic District (approx. 1.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Red Bank.
Also see . . .
1. Maple Hall at Fortune Square. This page includes before and after photographs of Maple Hall.
The T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, also known as Maple Hall, is a masterfully rehabilitated 19th Century French mansard style structure. Named after T. Thomas Fortune, one of the most influential American journalists and newspaper publishers of the 19th and 20th Century.(Submitted on September 13, 2022.)
2. T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center.
T. Thomas Fortune was born into slavery in Marianna, Jackson County, Florida, to Emanuel and Sarah Jane Fortune, on October 3, 1856, and was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. He started his education at Marianna’s first school for African Americans after the Civil War. Only following emancipation was Emanuel free to give himself and his family(Submitted on September 12, 2022, by Lynn Humphrey of Eatontown, New Jersey.)a surname, which he chose believing his own father to have been an Irishman named Thomas Fortune.Photographed By Lynn Humphrey, September 10, 20222. T. Thomas Fortune National Historic Landmark Marker
Three years later, he and his family were forced to flee Marianna to Jacksonville, in the face of a white southern movement against African Americans, who exercised their civil and political rights in the south. Fortune’s mother died when he was 15 years old in 1871. As a child, he attended school only sporadically, but gained considerable knowledge of politics and the world through his father’s political life in the state capital in Tallahassee. Originally a carpenter, Fortune’s father, Emanuel, became active in Reconstruction politics, winning election to the Florida House of Representatives in 1868. At the young age of 13, Fortune worked both as a page in the state senate and as an apprenticed printer at the Marianna Courier and later the Jacksonville Daily-Times Union.
3. Wikipedia entry for Timothy Thomas Fortune. Excerpt:
With Fortune at the helm as co-owner with Emanuel Fortune, Jr., and Jerome B. Peterson, the New York Age became the most widely read of all Black newspapers. It stood at the forefront as a voice agitating against the evils of discrimination, lynching, mob violence, and disenfranchisement. Its popularity was due in part to Fortune’s editorials, which condemned all forms of discrimination and demanded full justice for all African Americans.(Submitted on September 13, 2022.)
Ida B. Wells’s newspaper Memphis Free Speech and Headlight had its printing press destroyed and building burned as the result of an article published in it on May 25, 1892.Fortune then gave her a job and a new platform from which to detail and condemn lynching. His book The Kind of Education the Afro-American Most Needs was published in 1898, and Dreams of Life: Miscellaneous Poems in 1905.Photographed By Lynn Humphrey, September 12, 20223. Maple Hall MarkersMarker shown in Photo 1 is to the left of the door; the one in Photo 2 is to the right. There is a third marker, listed on a separate page, on a stone pedestal at the sidewalk in front of the home.
After a nervous breakdown, Fortune sold the New York Age to Fred R. Moore in 1907, who continued publishing it until 1960. Fortune published another book, The New York Negro in Journalism, in 1915.
4. T. Thomas Fortune Remembered As Powerhouse Of Journalism, Advocate For African American Economics.
3¼ Minute 2022 WCBS-TV feature story on T. Thomas Fortune
Additional commentary.
1. I Make My Bed of Roses
Poem by Timothy Thomas Fortune from his 1905 book Dreams of Life.
I make my bed of roses sweet!
I scorn the frowns of envious Fate!
I will my careless song repeat
While ’round may surge contending hate!
For life is what we make it still,
And I am master of my will.
Then let me quaff life’s nectar wine
And live, a lord, the passing hour;
The world, and all therein, is mine,
Of fame or wealth or transient power;
For he, indeed, is all supreme
Whose dream of life is all a dream.
Photographed By Lynn Humphrey, September 12, 2022
4. Maple Hall, The Home of T. Thomas Fortune
Now the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center
— Submitted September 13, 2022.
Photograph published by J. L. Nichols & Co., 1902
5. T. Thomas Fortune
(1856–1928)
(1856–1928)
Credits. This page was last revised on September 13, 2022. It was originally submitted on September 12, 2022, by Lynn Humphrey of Eatontown, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 93 times since then and 17 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on September 12, 2022, by Lynn Humphrey of Eatontown, New Jersey. 3, 4. submitted on September 13, 2022, by Lynn Humphrey of Eatontown, New Jersey. 5. submitted on September 13, 2022, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio. • J. J. Prats was the editor who published this page.
