Thomas Fuller
Often called the “Virginia Calculator”, Thomas Fuller was born in 1710, somewhere between the “Slave Coast” of West Africa (present-day Liberia) and the Kingdom of Dahomey (modern-day Benin).


He was taken away from his native land during the scramble for slaves and sold as a slave. At the age of 14, Fuller was taken to Colonial America in 1724.

Fuller was illiterate as he could not read and write English but had a rare gift; the ability to give accurate and speedy calculation, which for so many years stunned the colonisers.

He simply was able to solve complex math problems in his head.

Antislavery campaigners who had recognized his rare talent used him to drum home the point that blacks were not mentally inferior to whites.

Northern Virginia planters, Presley and Elizabeth Cox, also used Fuller’s talent in the management of their plantation farm, about four miles from Alexandria, Virginia.


So how did Fuller acquire this talent, especially in a period where slaves were not allowed to learn to read and write?

He said his skills come from experimental applications around the farm such as counting the hairs in a cow’s tail.

Complex computations related to astronomy are carried out by a computer but Fuller was amazingly able to do those computations in his head.

When Fuller was 70 years old, he met a businessman who had come with other associates from Pennsylvania just to know more about him.

They asked him some questions. Examples were: how many seconds were in a year and a half? how many seconds had a man lived who is 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours old?

When he correctly answered 47,304,000 and 2,210,500,800, respectively, in less than two minutes each time, one of the men raised an objection, saying his own calculations were much smaller.

Fuller quickly responded, “(Stop), Massa, you forget de leap year.”

After taking into consideration the leap year in their calculations, they agreed with Fuller. They later submitted Fuller’s computational abilities to the Abolitionist.

Fuller died on the Cox farm near Alexandria, Virginia in 1790. He was 80.

https://l.?u=https%3A%2F%2Fface2faceafrica.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-enslaved-african-math-genius-whose-intellect-shocked-white-people%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1hmxkafpDVMjUlGMK6wJhjjYWkBjUzBZpDZbDRTQQAeK_M2-fDqe-c_To&h=AT3nRt3cUUB6DSghYKj8xGo6eDoq3a3T0qtcqnS_n2nQ17lR7IwsRlL8RmpvsDc5r7jXb2R08UCmvCuqDCeCiwBb6ZzjxNezCLK5NNCuVz7D-DKopLbnhL0TdXu9_JtYtxTKH29zLQ

Wow!!!

wao

hope dis is front page material for pple to knw more abt history?

This is Just amazing

Genius

Weldon op u av done a fantastic job, lalasticla come move this to front page jaree if Nah Regina Daniel post now the thing for don reach front page since,

Never heard of this, weldone OP

If he was born in dis present era he would have probably made it big in mathematics or computer related field

To be honest I was actually stunned reading this.... Nice one OP...

Nice write up

Stooooooory

Great.

Brodagovernor:

Thomas Fuller
Often called the “Virginia Calculator”, Thomas Fuller was born in 1710, somewhere between the “Slave Coast” of West Africa (present-day Liberia) and the Kingdom of Dahomey (modern-day Benin).


He was taken away from his native land during the scramble for slaves and sold as a slave. At the age of 14, Fuller was taken to Colonial America in 1724.

Fuller was illiterate as he could not read and write English but had a rare gift; the ability to give accurate and speedy calculation, which for so many years stunned the colonisers.

He simply was able to solve complex math problems in his head.

Antislavery campaigners who had recognized his rare talent used him to drum home the point that blacks were not mentally inferior to whites.

Northern Virginia planters, Presley and Elizabeth Cox, also used Fuller’s talent in the management of their plantation farm, about four miles from Alexandria, Virginia.


So how did Fuller acquire this talent, especially in a period where slaves were not allowed to learn to read and write?

He said his skills come from experimental applications around the farm such as counting the hairs in a cow’s tail.

Complex computations related to astronomy are carried out by a computer but Fuller was amazingly able to do those computations in his head.

When Fuller was 70 years old, he met a businessman who had come with other associates from Pennsylvania just to know more about him.

They asked him some questions. Examples were: how many seconds were in a year and a half? how many seconds had a man lived who is 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours old?

When he correctly answered 47,304,000 and 2,210,500,800, respectively, in less than two minutes each time, one of the men raised an objection, saying his own calculations were much smaller.

Fuller quickly responded, “(Stop), Massa, you forget de leap year.”

After taking into consideration the leap year in their calculations, they agreed with Fuller. They later submitted Fuller’s computational abilities to the Abolitionist.

Fuller died on the Cox farm near Alexandria, Virginia in 1790. He was 80.

https://l.?u=https%3A%2F%2Fface2faceafrica.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-enslaved-african-math-genius-whose-intellect-shocked-white-people%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1hmxkafpDVMjUlGMK6wJhjjYWkBjUzBZpDZbDRTQQAeK_M2-fDqe-c_To&h=AT3nRt3cUUB6DSghYKj8xGo6eDoq3a3T0qtcqnS_n2nQ17lR7IwsRlL8RmpvsDc5r7jXb2R08UCmvCuqDCeCiwBb6ZzjxNezCLK5NNCuVz7D-DKopLbnhL0TdXu9_JtYtxTKH29zLQ

Doing speedy calculations does not make you a mathematician or math genius.

This is one of the biggest misconceptions people have about being good at math, that it’s all mental computation and scary fast power in calculations. No offense, but simply being fast at numerical calculations has nothing to do with being good at maths- it’s a mechanical trait that can be sharpened with continued practice.

Being a math genius is more about creativity and being able to notice and exploit patterns that nobody had ever noticed or thought of before.

In all things his skills mean he probably has a good short term memory and makes him more of a human calculator.

Kharol1234:
hope dis is front page material for pple to knw more abt history?

it's not about Tonto Dikeh and Regina daniels so it might not hit FP

It's not a surprise to me As Africans were the First Mathematicians And Astrologers.

Interesting.
@OP, brodagovernor the link you posted is not working. Please post a working link for those interested in following this up.

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fuller_Thomas_ca_1710-1790&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjSh9GlgtziAhU8WhUIHaydD0oQFjATegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw2m-qUPr8AgfJi6AxUImzcr

Darivie04:

Doing speedy calculations does not make you a mathematician or math genius.

It does....considering the fact he didnt know how to read and write.
Weldone OP.

Darivie04:

Doing speedy calculations does not make you a mathematician or math genius.

It is a step to become a genius
.
.
How can you call yourself a genius without having a little experience in other fields

Long, long ago I came to the conclusion that everything about science and technology surfaced and began in what I call 'precient Africa' and I meant all of mathematics, biology, astronomy to metaphysics, philosophy and civilization itself.

Here isn't the appropriate platform to back up my assertions with points based on not just the books I've read nor the personal investigations and research based observations I've done but allow me to ask the audience here, just as I've always asked - why is it that everyone in Nigeria keep hating on the whites people (Europeans and Americans) for the role they partook in trans-Atlantic slavery while remaining unaware of the heinous vrimes the Arabs did to Africa, both in negro slavery and untold destructions and mayhem done to this continent and its negroid inhabitants ? Why are so many neglectful, and choosing to be ignorant as well as been forgetful of the fact that it was them Arabs who not only did far more worse on the Negros in regards to what is called sub-Saharan slavery, a sub-topic of Arab Slavery of Africans but also were the first to begin enslaving Negros in Africa, raided lands, sacked empires and kingdoms fpr more than a millenia, their so many Jihad campaigns. There are books written about it.

Arab Slavery of Africans spanned a millennia and a half while the jew-sponsored seacoast-entry European slavery of Africans went for approximately 400 years.


The arabs wrecked Africa and downgraded ots status to the dark continent it is today. Rendering it in ruins, they did far more evil on us than what the Europeans and aericans who solefully accused did to us, from whilescale jihad to nonstop devastating invasions hampered the progression of the Africa in general.

The sub-topic of Arab Slavery of Africa; sub-Saharan slavery as it is refereed to, is the most overlooked and suppressed chapter of human history and slavery.

Let's call it the Negrocaust

Facts about Trans-Atlantic slavery
1. 400 years

2. Was abolished by the same Europeans

3. Part of what led to the American civil war

4. Whites documented it all

5. Countless of books, journals, novels, have been made as evidence of its occurrence

6. The descendants of it perpetrators have shown remorse, have apologized in various socio-economical ways.

7. The descendants of the enslaved negros can be found throughout the world today like we have in certain European country and the African-Americans of the United States of America

8. Contrary to popular but specious beliefs; Europeans were never the reason our fore-bearers sold one another into slavery

9. Lots of movies and documentary have been made about transatlantic slavery (should be stopped as it's fuels many ignoramus here to nurture deep animosity for Americans and whites in general whilst not understanding the complexity of the events that led to it)

10. First slave ship used to cart the first set of negro slaves off Africa was named 'JESUS'


Facts about Sub-Saharan Slavery
1. 1,500 years!!!

2. Despite its been abolished, still taking place in Africa where Arabs still enslave negros in places like Mauritania and Southern Sudan, while all northern African regions is now acquired by descendant of various Arabs, Arab Jihadists from the period of the moors to date.

3. After slavery, in all it forms was outlawed and banned, Arabs still continued in the illegal trade, went further in the trading of negros as slaves by embarking on the transporting over the seas, check Wikipedia to see a photo of the last ship that was apprehended by the British

4. No Arab author ever documented any of their evil to the negro people till date.

5. No books, journals, novels, has ever been written to remind history lovers of these negrolocaust ever happening, which explains why majority of negroid African mooslims and christian converts don't know of it ever occurring.

6. No descendants of the Arab perpetrators have shown remorse, apologized in various socio-economical ways instead still maim and maltreat Negroes in their continent in countries such as Libya, Morocco and Algeria.

7. Not a single descendants of the enslaved Negros can be found throughout the Arab world today like we have in certain European country and the African-Americans of the United States of America simply because they were turned into eunuchs after been castrated at their Arab slave market (bazaar) so as to never have their male Instruments erectable when instructed to go fetch their harems.

8. Arabs, due to their closeness to the continent brought wars and countless destruction of great empires and kingdoms, influenced Africans of then with a lot of things that are now evidence in our language and worldview. Their manipulations brought numerous internecine wars and battle among Africans ethnic groups, causing tribal wars from which led to the intra-tribal slave practice wherein the victor enslaved the defeated who not until later Europeans came and were sold into slavery (not for precious mirrors or guns - another well propagated falsehood)

9. No movies like Django, Roots, 12 Years A Slave etc have ever been produced to substantiate these historical blight, not a single documentary have ever been made on the Arab slavery of Africans (not even in any cartoons like there is from those classic pre-90s America cartoons where negros slaves are funnily depicted with thick red lips and jet black skin serving a white man, never of such reminder about them Arabs who did far more evil, devastating effect of which still lingers on)

10. While the Europeans carted away negroes in huge ships across the Atlantic to what was called the New World, the horse and camel riding Arabs had thousands of enslaved negroes chained to one another in manacles as they walked across thousands of miles till they reach their destinations waiting to be bought and sold in slave bazaar. African female slaves were forced into sex slaves as there weren't allowed to mate with their male negro slaves who have been castrated. Many enslaved negroes were conditioned to fight in many of their Jihad wars against Africa lands and in Spain (Moors) to be manumitted if they survive. Historians also stated as a matter of fact that Sahara desert was filled with vegetation that it was the legs of millions of slaves moved across the lands for years that scorched it into a desert we know it to be today. Skeletons and bones of black slaves who were too tired and exhausted to continue the journey have been exhumed from Sahara desert by various white archaeologist. Note that Usman Fodio the fulani arab jihadist is reputed to have controlled the largest slave economy in West Africa rivaling other Arab jihadist partaking in the human trade every where in Africa and across the Maghreb.

cc:
Jared007
Philoedu
Rossikk
Zoedew

@VillagePipu:
SDesist from the we Africans are unintelligent traps, you're of the many atypicals who believes eithout stopping to think we negros were naked until them europeans brought civilisation, when in fact it was the other way round, during the period the classical Greeks were semi-naked, Africans have long been wearinh clothe, otherwise would you be saying it was them whites that brought to your ancestors the technology of cloth making as we call them in our language, aso-ofi, aso-oké, abeti-aja cap, come on think, we've been clothing ourselves long before even Caesar crossed into the sland which them Romans called Britania wherein its inhabitants were so primitive that they had to teach them how to cloth themselves, the Anglo-saxons were as raw and backward like their Goth cousin downtown whose ancestors; the Tutonic were as barbaric as the later Arabs who came into world scene millenias later. Try tracing where the Romans got their everything from, you will get to the Greeks, keep tracing it backward, you'll get to an origin, guess where that is, go do your research and tell me later bro. To remain ignorant is cheap, to get enlightened can be costly but readily affordable.

Jhoanner:


Every civilization engaged in slavery at a point in time as a form of trade. We had inter-tribal slavery even in our own land. I consider the European slave-trade and colonization to be more far-reaching as it went beyond physical but mental bondage. They engaged in a dismembering and a total eclipse of identity of the people in the lands lq conquered. Replacing the identity of the people with theirs. Let's not also forget the acts of barbarism. The truth is that European conquest of the African continent and all other continents was very strategic and deliberate. It involves a lot of mind-programming which we (Native and Diasporic Africans) have unfortunately not been able to wriggle ourselves out of.
You are correct that we Africans have attained a high level of civilization that may surpass that of Europe if studied. But the blame also goes to Europeans who deliberately erased any trace of civilization credited to us and championed themselves as the beginning and the end of civilization.
However, I'll like you to enlighten me more on the Arab slavery of Africans. Thanks

No problem my brother....but allow me to respond to the things you've pointed out first.

Jhoanner:

Every civilization engaged in slavery at a point in time as a form of trade

Not every civilization indulged in the inhumane practice of slavery throughout the enitre history of humankind, a good reference were the Greeks of classical antiquity, who despite their numerous wars, never partook in the human slavery of the defeated, so as to retain the purity of their blood from been tainted by the invading non-Greek enemies (caution not to relate such a decision with racism). You may rebute that with the fact that the Spartans greeks afterall forced the Helots into a form form of slavery, after having their population subjugated which I will then respond thus, that form of slavery is entirely different from the incursive, destructive, land-grabbing, depopulating, socio-cultural destablizing, mass murdering enslavement the negros suffered from the Arabs. It's like combining three of what; the Europeans did to the natives of Americas, with what the Nazis did to the Jews in World War II and trans-atlantic slavery together, all three raised to the power of ten, to get an idea of the fate the negro race suffered at the hands of the Arabs for more than a millennia and a half. Forget the internet, their are books you would read on this suppressed topic that you won't be able to hold yourself anymore than to shed tears. Again, if you or anyone argues that the circumstances that led to the subjugation of the Helots resulting to their serfdom to the Spartans should all be disregarded on the basis that slavery, no matter the form, still remain as slavery, fine I will agree to that, but can you or anyone holding thwt argumemt agree that the practice of identuring should be regarded as a form of slavery as well ? Afterall, anyone getting indentured to someone is at the mercy of the of thst soneone as he or she is submitting all rights to, cruelty, shaming, sadism and punishment are but few of what the indentured can relive at the whims of whoever they are indenturing to.

Jhoanner:

We had inter-tribal slavery even in our own land.

Maybe, I wasn't clear enough, get my point clearly now....Africans NEVER ever took part in any inter or intra tribal slavery as a result of whatsoever conflict or disagreement within themselves, as there were ways of settling issues that would usually leads to wars and battles in other part of the world, note that - Africans, since precient times were not war-mongering as their offsprings (Caucasians, semites, mongoloids and other aggressive races) later became. It was not until the contamination of external forces over several millennia that Africans gradually started becoming war conscious, but not war driven enough to dominate and conquer and enslave their neighbours as the Europeans are notorious for in their own history, therefore... it is important to note that all the inter and intra tribal slavery that occured among west Africans resulted from hundreds of centuries of socio-political/economic destablization, the domino effect of which culminated, not only into all the internecine conflicts between people of the same tribe and outside ethnic groups but also in said enslavement of the imprisoned captives, majority of who were sold off to the Europeans slave dealers who came by ship, this is not to be confused or likened to the Arab enslavement and destructions of Africans and Africa lands, although connected but only in respect of the Arabs in various shades been the causative agents.

Jhoanner:

I consider the European slave-trade and colonization to be more far-reaching as it went beyond physical but mental bondage. They engaged in a dismembering and a total eclipse of identity of the people in the lands lq conquered. Replacing the identity of the people with theirs. Let's not also forget the acts of barbarism

Bro, your consideration of the trans-Atlantic slavetrsde of the Europeans to be far reaching and beyond physical damage and mental bondage is sentimentally unfounded but understandably concluded to be drawn from the information you, just like the majority of we the negros have been bombarded with since childhood, from documented clips, republished survival accounts of people who wrote down their experiences in those eras, in cartoons, movies, various slaves trade documentaries all of which points only to the Euorpean slave dealings. But contrary to all that, believe it or not, Arab slavery of negros spanning over several centuries to exceeded that of the late coming Europeans who did theirs out of thirst for cheap labor to work in the New World, is not only harrowing, but the cruelest of all slavery for its annihilating purpose borne out of deep hatred.

And regarding the erodement of our racial identities, I'd say you're also incorrect to conclude as such. Do you know that there are few words in the Yoruba language that are Arabic in origin ? What does that tell you ? It's means the Arabs have been in absolute contact with Africans for a long time that they succeeded in replacing and distorting our true history, also as a result much was lost over the centuries that it is easier for so many ignorant buffoons to scream "if we are as you say, why couldn't we read and write, why weren't we wearing clothes" whilst forgetting we have native terms for those acts in respect to: ko-iwe and to ka-iwe, or was it the Portuguese, English or Arabs that gave us those wordings of expression ? Note that, it could be contested that one of the main reason the Nsibidi alphabet of the East siders was able to survive these eras of horrors was because the Yorubas, the Hausas and all other tribes and ethnic group upwards were tje one recieving much of the cultural damaging and contaminating effects from the continuous impact brought about by the Arab invasiveness as their countless and many undocumented Jihad war against negroes lasted, disguised and justified on the basis that we are infidels/heathens just like The Church used invented Christianity as a weapon for their Crusaders to take control of Europe among other ulterior purposes.

Jhoanner:

The truth is that European conquest of the African continent and all other continents was very strategic and deliberate.

Well, if you think that of the Europeans were strategic and deliberate, given to what you've been exposed to from childhood concerning this subject, then think of the Arabs' own as intentional and acrimonious and unrelenting still.

Jhoanner:

It involves a lot of mind-programming which we (Native and Diasporic Africans) have unfortunately not been able to wriggle ourselves out of.

Fine, agree, then please tell me why do we Native and Diasporic Africans prefer to blame a race of human for our woes and setbacks while giving no iota of attention to another set of much vile human race who not only plundered worse, raped far and wide from north west africa to east central africa, people who after wiping out its original occupants proceeded to annexed the whole of north Africa which were once the native lands to non-Berber deeply melanated negros (else if you have another explanation as to why Arabs are the ones in 90% of all North African countries), Arabs people who by virtue of their middle geo-position, they stole knowledge, including from mathematics to astronomical calculations and devices from Africa and presented themselves to the rest of the later Europeans as though they were the original inventors, and the list goes on and on.

See two people raped their mother, and the mother is blaming only one because while the first was raping hershe was blindfolded while the second rapists just did for a while and left but was seen as he himself made sextae video-recording his rape session.

I hope that analogy gives you clarification.




As for enlightening you more on the Arab slavery o Africans, well you would do well to read up yourself, here are some books to begin with...


Arab Muslim World: Architect of Slavery in Africa by Jean Marie Dia (Barnes & Noble),

Slavery In The Arab World by Murray Gordon and

Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism, and Slavery by M.A. Khan

Africa amaka

good







pls help me with the image a man standing close to the river with sponge and soap

this is the type of articles I like to read, not all those Tonto crap

We learn everyday...... Kudos op

Wow

Am proud to be black

We are not mentally inferior to the white, it high time they knew that

FACTS:

1) all human race evolved from the black race.
2) Africa is the first home of all humans
3) Africans invented and introduced to the world science, mathematics, Arts, Architecture and medicine.
4) the black skin has many advantages over white skin both physically and biologically. And has the most diverse skin tone in the world.

jesvic91:
Wow

Am proud to be black

We are not mentally inferior to the white, it high time they knew that

we are not brave enough is our problem. The man with all his skilled had no ambitions. He should have escaped and gone one to use his skills . At 70 he still dey show gratitude

He was a mathematical prodigy though some racists would like to classify him as an idiot savant.. guys read up on the Nigerian astrologer muhammad ibn muhammad.

Thats how the white man destroyed african genuises, surpressed their achievements and gave us their own works to study and apply in our enviroment thereby keeping us in perpetual slavery.