Yarrow mammoet biography

American entrepreneur and property owner

Yarrow Mamout (c. 1736 – January 19, 1823)^[1][2] was a formerly enslaved African entrepreneur and property owner in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

An educated Fulani Muslim, he gained his freedom in 1796 after 44 years held in bondage. James Alexander Simpson and Charles Willson Peale painted his portrait, Peale's being held in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.^[3]

Early life

Yarrow was born in West Africa circa 1736.

His African name was probably Mamadou Yarrow (the name Yarrow Mamout was popularized through the diary of his portraitist, Charles Willson Peale).^[4][5] He was kidnapped, enslaved, and taken to Annapolis, Maryland, from Guinea in 1752 on the slave ship Elijah.

A member of the Fulani people, he spoke the Fula language and could read and write Arabic and rudimentary English.^[3] Historians believe that he came from a wealthy and educated Muslim f