Lunsford Lane’s amazing story of ingenuity and will to find a way out of enslavement in Raleigh and gain the freedom of his family is the subject of a new book that shines a new light on this remarkable life.
“In some way, Lunsford Lane is a forgotten celebrity, ” said NC State history professor Craig Friend who spent years researching the life and celebrity of Lunsford Lane.
Lane was born into bondage in Raleigh in 1803, enslaved by Raleigh’s founder father Joel Lane. He toiled as a house servant at the downtown Raleigh plantation of Sherwood Haywood. Lunsford’s father, Edward, was enslaved just yards away at John Haywood’s estate. The Haywoods were prominent state power brokers of the time.
Lunsford used that proximity to power and money — along with his father’s idea for smoking tobacco — as an entryway to freedom.
“(Lunsford) starts selling tobacco with his father’s help. His father comes up with the idea of flavoring poor-quality tobacco and making more of a profit,” Friend said. “Lunsford has access to state legislators and so he sells tobacco every morning to the legislators coming to the Capitol.”