Before Fortune was bones in a Connecticut museum,
he was a husband, a father, a baptized Christian, and
a slave.
His wife’s name was Dinah. His sons were Africa and Jacob.
His daughters were Mira and Roxa. He was baptized in an
Episcopal church, which did not make him free. His master
was Dr. Preserved Porter, a physician who specialized in setting
broken bones.
They lived in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the late 1700s.
Dr. Porter had a 75-acre farm, which Fortune probably ran.
He planted and harvested corn, rye, potatoes, onions, apples,
buckwheat, oats, and hay. He cared for the cattle
and hogs.
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Who was Fortune, and what happened to his
bones after he died?
from
Fortune’s Bones
History Writing by Pamela Espeland
ANALYZE CHRONOLOGICAL
STRUCTURE
Annotate: Mark the word that
signals sequence in the first
paragraph.
Predict: What does this first
sentence tell you about how the
text will be organized?
B
326 UNIT 4 COLLABORATE & COMPARE
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© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Don’t forget to
Notice & Note as you
read the text.
Unlike many slaves, who owned little or nothing and were
often separated from their families, Fortune owned a small
house near Dr. Porter’s home. He and Dinah and their children
lived together.
When Dr. Porter died in 1803, he left an estate that was
worth about $7,000—a lot of money for the time. The estate
included Fortune’s widow, Dinah, and their son Jacob. Fortune
had died in 1798.
According to Connecticut’s Act of Gradual Emancipation,
children born to enslaved parents after March 1, 1784, were
to be freed when they reached age 21. Jacob was 18. By law, he
could be enslaved for another three years.
In Dr. Porter’s will, he left Dinah to his wife, Lydia. He gave
Jacob to his daughter Hannah.
No one knows what happened to Africa, Mira, and Roxa.
Most slaves who died in Waterbury in the 1700s were
buried in one of the town’s cemeteries. When Fortune died, he
wasn’t buried. Instead, Dr. Porter preserved Fortune’s skeleton
to further the study of human anatomy. 1
Dr. Porter had been a bonesetter for many years, but he’d
never had a skeleton to study. He had two sons who were also
doctors. They could learn from the skeleton, too.
Fortune was about 60 at the time of his death and, in spite
of his injuries, in relatively good health. His skeleton was sturdy
and complete.
Four more generations of Porters became physicians,
and the skeleton stayed in the family. Porter children,
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren used it to learn the
names of the bones. This was their earliest medical training.
Sally Porter Law McGlannan, the last Porter doctor,
remembered playing with the skeleton as a young girl. . . .
Another family member, Leander Law, once brought part of
Fortune’s skeleton to a college physiology class.
At some point—no one knows exactly when—“Larry” was
written on the skull. Fortune’s name was forgotten for nearly a
century.
Over the years, the skeleton was lost and found. It was
boarded up2
in an attic, then discovered by a crew of workers
hired to renovate an old building.
In 1933, Sally Porter Law McGlannan gave the bones to the
Mattatuck Museum. The museum sent the bones to Europe to
be assembled for display. The skeleton hung in a glass case in the
museum for decades, fascinating adults and frightening children.
1 anatomy: the structure and parts of the body. 2 boarded up: packed away.
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ANALYZE CHRONOLOGICAL
STRUCTURE
Annotate: Mark the time words
in paragraph 6.
Draw Conclusions: In what year
was Fortune’s son Jacob probably
emancipated?
NOTICE & NOTE
CONTRASTS AND
CONTRADICTIONS
When you notice a sharp contrast
between what you would expect
and what you observe happening,
you’ve found a Contrasts and
Contradictions signpost.
Notice & Note: Review
paragraph 12. Underline how the
Porter family first made use of
Fortune’s skeleton. Then, circle
examples in paragraphs 13–14
of how the Porter family’s views
toward the skeleton changed.
Interpret: What is the difference,
and why does it matter?
Fortune’s Bones 327
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© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company • Image Credits: Facial Reconstruction by Frank Bender. Courtesy of the
Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut.
Many stories were invented about the skeleton. Some said
that “Larry” was a Revolutionary War hero—maybe even
George Washington. Some said he fell to his death. Some said
he drowned. Some said he was killed trying to escape. Some
thought he had been hanged.
One Waterbury resident remembers, “Larry was the thing
to see when you go to the museum. I don’t think anybody ever
envisioned3
that this was truly a human being.”
In 1970, the skeleton, still called “Larry,” was taken out of
its case and put into storage. Times had changed. The museum
now believed that displaying the skeleton was disrespectful. It
wasn’t just a bunch of bones. It was the remains of someone’s
son, maybe someone’s father.
The skeleton rested for more than 25 years. Then, in the
1990s, historians searched local records and found a slave
named Fortune. Archaeologists and anthropologists studied
the bones, which started giving up their secrets. The bones
told how Fortune labored, suffered, and died: A quick, sudden
injury, like whiplash, may have snapped a vertebra 4
in his neck.
He did not drown or fall from a cliff. He was not hanged.
But he was free.
In text #3, Fortune’s Bones showed courage by
2 answers
continuing to support his family and maintain a semblance of a normal life despite his status as a slave. He owned a home, was able to keep his family together, and contributed to the farm's operations. His life reflects not only the struggles of enslaved individuals but also their resilience and ability to find ways to survive and provide for their loved ones.
In examining the skeleton's journey—from Fortune, a man with a story, to "Larry," an object of curiosity—it's clear that the treatment of his remains reflects societal views on race, identity, and humanity across different periods. The initial lack of recognition of Fortune as a person with a life, family, and experiences illustrates a stark contrast to the later understanding that emphasized respect for human dignity.
As Fortune's son Jacob was 18 at the time of Dr. Porter's death in 1803, he would likely have been emancipated in 1806, when he turned 21, according to the law in Connecticut. This timeline provides insight into the complex dynamics of slavery and the gradual shift towards emancipation in the region.
The shifting perceptions of Fortune's skeleton—from a teaching tool for medical students to a subject of respect—underscores the evolution of societal perspectives on race and humanity. The earlier fascination with the bones presented them as a curiosity, whereas later views demanded acknowledgment of Fortune's individuality and humanity, marking an important shift in historical understanding.
