Peter Mills

Peter Mills (October 26, 1861 – September 22, 1972) was the last known verified surviving American man born into legal slavery: he died in 1972 aged 110.

Mills was born in Prince George's County, Maryland on October 26, 1861. After the Civil War, he worked on his father's farm every day during the week before leaving to work in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. where he dug sewers, was a bricklayer and plasterer and played baseball in his spare time. Mills eventually moved to Pittsburgh after first visiting in 1881. Mills was killed by a driver in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 22, 1972. He outlived his five wives.