Sylvester Magee facts for kids

Sylvester Magee (claimed to be born May 29, 1841 – died October 15, 1971) said he was the last person alive who had been an American slave. He became quite famous. A hospital for veterans in Mississippi even treated him as a veteran of the American Civil War.

If his claims were true, Magee would have been the last person who fought in the American Civil War to pass away. He would also have been the oldest person ever recorded to have lived.

Magee's Early Life

Sylvester Magee said he was born in North Carolina in 1841. His parents, Ephraim and Jeanette, were slaves. They worked on a farm called the J.J. Shanks plantation.

Magee claimed that when he was 19, a man named Hugh Magee bought him. This happened at a slave market in Enterprise, Mississippi, just before the American Civil War began. Hugh Magee owned a farm called Lone Star Plantation in Covington County, Mississippi. Sylvester took the last name Magee, which was common for enslaved people at that time. Soon after, he was sold again to Victor Steen in Rankin County, Mississippi.

Life During the Civil War

Magee claimed that in 1863, he ran away from the Steen plantation. He said he joined the Union Army. He also claimed to have taken part in a big battle in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Sylvester Magee said he was forced to work for both the Confederate and Union armies. He worked as a servant and a laborer. However, there are no official papers or records to prove this.

A man named Alfred P. Andrews helped Magee. Andrews was the head of a group called the Jackson Civil War Round Table. He helped Magee be recognized as a Civil War veteran. This happened even though no service records for Magee could be found. In March 1966, Magee became sick with pneumonia. Andrews helped him get treatment at the Mississippi Veterans Hospital.

Later Years and Fame

On what was said to be Magee's 124th birthday, the people of Collins, Mississippi threw him a big party. It was held at a country grocery store. They had a huge cake with five layers and 124 candles. The governor of Mississippi, Paul B. Johnson, Jr., even announced that day as "Sylvester Magee Day."

Many national news groups wrote about Magee's life and his long age. These included famous magazines like Time and Jet. He even appeared on a TV show called Mike Douglas Show. He flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for another TV appearance.

A life insurance company said he was the oldest living person in the United States. He received a birthday card from President Lyndon B. Johnson. President Richard M. Nixon also recognized him.

Jet magazine wrote that historians believed Magee's stories were very detailed. They thought it would be impossible for someone who couldn't read or write to know so much about the Civil War without being there. Jet quoted a historian who said Magee spoke with "rare intelligence" and didn't just ramble when he talked about the war.

Magee had four wives during his life. He lived longer than three of them. He had seven children. His last child was born when he was supposedly 107 years old. He claimed his father lived to be 123 and his mother to be 122. In his later years, he earned money by selling special needles and by digging graves.

Death and Age Claims

Sylvester Magee passed away on October 15, 1971, in Columbia, Mississippi. His funeral was held at John the Baptist Missionary Church a few days later. He was buried in a grave without a marker in the Pleasant Valley Church Cemetery in Foxworth, Mississippi. In 2011, a local history group placed a marker on his grave.

Magee said he was 130 years old when he died. However, his age has never been fully proven. People born into slavery usually did not have birth certificates. A history professor named Max Grivno studied Magee's life. He said Magee's claimed age was "possible... but extremely unlikely." He noted that there has only been one proven case of a person living past 120 years old.

See also

• Longevity claims
• Slavery in the United States
• List of the last surviving American slaves
• Alfred "Teen" Blackburn (died 1951), one of the last surviving enslaved Americans
• Cudjoe Lewis (died 1935), one of the last survivors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade
• Eliza Moore (died 1948), one of the last living African Americans proven to have been born into slavery in the United States.
• Charlie Smith (died 1979), another individual who claimed to be a supercentenarian born into slavery, who died later than Magee