Alethia Browning Tanner Alethia Browning Tanner was an enslaved woman who ran her own vegetable market in <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/20">Lafayette Square</a> in front of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/66">White House</a> during the late 1700s and early 1800s. She was highly successful, counting President Thomas Jefferson among her customers. By 1810 she had saved enough to purchase her freedom: $1400. She continued to be successful in business, and was an important member of the early free black community of Washington, DC. <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Alethia+Browning+Tanner">Alethia Browning Tanner</a> Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1800-1829">1800-1829</a>