Alice of Dunk's Ferry

Alice of Dunk's Ferry (died 1802) was an African-American slave, toll collector, and centenarian who was "one of Black America's early oral historians".

Early life Alice was born enslaved in Philadelphia to enslaved parents, brought to colonial North America from Barbados. She claimed a birth date of circa 1686, which would have made her 116 at her death. For 40 years, she collected tolls to cross the river, working for a master named as Samuel Carpenter, a friend of William Penn's. Jessie Carney Smith wrote that:

Latter years and death At the supposed ages of 96–100, Alice gradually lost her sight but, though blind, remained skilled at catching fish: Alice was said to have galloped on horseback to Christ Church every Sunday aged 95. Dr Audrey Henry, a local historical society member, said in 2015 that:She has also been lauded for her largely ignored entrepreneurial activities, such as establishing fisheries, gathering shad to be packed in salt in barrels and sold in Philadelphia, and to ships leaving on voyages.