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Contribution #335 of 365
Samuel P. Bolling
Brickyard Owner and Manufacturing Entrepreneur
1860s–1880s
The contribution
How this work helped shape America
Born enslaved in Virginia, Samuel P. Bolling used mechanical and managerial skills to establish a brickyard in Farmville after emancipation. He accumulated more than 1,000 acres, and an 1886 account valued his manufacturing enterprise and residence at approximately $40,000. Bolling sold land to other Black families and contributed property for an industrial school, extending his enterprise into community development.