Independent Historian

Mary Maillard is an independent scholar and documentary editor from Vancouver, British Columbia. Her primary interests are in Black family history focusing on free people of color in antebellum Philadelphia and North Carolina. Her edition Whispers of Cruel Wrongs: The Correspondence of Louisa Jacobs and Her Circle, 1879-1911 (2017) won Honorable Mention for the Society for the Study of American Women Writers Book Award in 2018. She is currently working on a biography of Louisa Burr, daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr.

Frederick Augustus Hinton (1804-1849)

Frederick Augustus Hinton, barber, abolitionist, early advocate for independent Black presses, and founding member of the Colored Conventions movement, was born enslaved in Raleigh, North Carolina, to unknown parents. Emancipated in Philadelphia in 1825 at the age of twenty-one, Hinton quickly became a member of … Read MoreFrederick Augustus Hinton (1804-1849)

Mary Virginia Wood (Forten) (1815-1840)

Mary Virginia Wood is best known as the mother of poet, diarist, and abolitionist Charlotte Forten, but she was also an abolitionist in her own right. Born enslaved in Hertford, Perquimans County, North Carolina, Mary was the eldest of the four daughters of wealthy planter … Read MoreMary Virginia Wood (Forten) (1815-1840)

Louisa Matilda Jacobs (1833-1917)

Louisa “Lulu” Matilda Jacobs, teacher, equal rights activist, and entrepreneur, was born a slave in Edenton, North Carolina, on October 19, 1833. She was the daughter of congressman and newspaper editor Samuel Tredwell Sawyer and his mixed-race enslaved mistress Harriet Jacobs. Louisa Jacobs was educated … Read MoreLouisa Matilda Jacobs (1833-1917)

Pierre Toussaint (ca. 1781-1853) and Marie-Rose Juliette Gaston (1786-1851)

Pierre Toussaint, New York society hairdresser, devout Catholic, and wealthy philanthropist, was born a third-generation elite house slave at the Bérard family plantation in Haiti. His father’s name is not known but he took his surname in honor of revolutionary hero Toussaint L’Ouverture. His mother, … Read MorePierre Toussaint (ca. 1781-1853) and Marie-Rose Juliette Gaston (1786-1851)