Gilbert Hunt

How this work helped shape America

Born enslaved in King William County, Virginia, around 1780, Gilbert Hunt trained as a blacksmith and spent most of his working life in Richmond. During the catastrophic Richmond Theatre fire on December 26, 1811, Hunt rushed to the burning building and worked with physician James D. McCaw to rescue people trapped inside, helping lower as many as a dozen women from an upper-story window. When fire struck the Virginia State Penitentiary in 1823, Hunt again assisted in rescue efforts. Hunt eventually purchased his freedom and continued working as a blacksmith in Richmond. His actions during two major urban fires demonstrate how a skilled Black American tradesman contributed not only to Richmond's working economy but also to the protection of life during disasters in the early nineteenth-century city.