Thomas Fuller, also known as “Negro Tom” and the “Virginia Calculator”, was an enslaved African renowned for his extraordinary mathematical abilities in the late 18th century. Born around 1710 in West Africa, likely between present-day Liberia and Benin, Fuller was kidnapped and shipped to America in 1724 at the age of 14.

Despite being illiterate and having no formal education, Fuller possessed an incredible talent for mental calculations. He could quickly solve complex problems involving seconds in a year and a half (47,304,000), seconds in a person’s lifespan (2,210,500,800 for a 70-year-old), and the exponential growth of farm animals over an 8-year period (34,588,806 sows).

When one of the men testing him argued that the lifespan calculation was too large, Fuller reminded him to account for leap years, and the final result was correct.

Fuller’s mathematical prowess was put to the test on several occasions. In one instance, he was asked to multiply seven into itself, then multiply that product by seven, and repeat the process seven times. He completed the calculation, which involved seven-digit numbers, faster than most people could with pen and paper.

He could also quickly calculate the number of poles, yards, feet, inches, and barley-corns in any given distance, such as the diameter of the Earth’s orbit.

Interestingly, Fuller’s abilities were likely developed in Africa before his enslavement. Evidence suggests that Africans had a rich tradition of mental calculations, with traders able to quickly and accurately exchange goods for slaves without the use of pen and paper.

This challenges the notion that Africans were intellectually inferior, a common belief used to justify slavery at the time.

Fuller’s story became a tool for the abolitionist movement, demonstrating that enslaved Africans possessed remarkable intelligence and capabilities.

His death in 1790 at the age of 80 was reported in the Boston newspaper Columbian Centinel, which praised his extraordinary abilities and decried the system that prevented him from receiving a formal education.

Thomas Fuller’s legacy as a mathematical prodigy and a symbol of the intellectual potential of enslaved Africans continues to inspire and challenge preconceptions about race and intelligence.