David George, a slave and later a Baptist minister, was born in 1742 on a plantation in Virginia. His parents had been brought from Africa as slaves, and the cruel treatment they suffered prompted George to run away to South Carolina where he hid for … Read MoreDavid George (1742-1810)
Belinda Royall, whose name appears in some documents as Royalle, was born in 1712 in Ghana, Africa. She was kidnapped from her home near the Volta River when she was 12 years old. Her description of her abduction captured in an 1783 petition vividly describes … Read MoreBelinda Royall (1712-?)
Bill Richmond, a.k.a. “The Black Terror”, the first black boxer to gain international recognition, was born in Cuckold’s Town (now Richmondtown), on Staten Island, New York, on August 5, 1763. In 1777 when the English troops held New York during the revolutionary war, he served … Read MoreBill Richmond (1763-1829)
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE DEBATE OVER SLAVERY When Thomas Jefferson included a passage attacking slavery in his draft of the Declaration of Independence it initiated the most intense debate among the delegates gathered at Philadelphia in the spring and early summer of 1776. … Read More(1776) The Deleted Passage of the Declaration of Independence
Omar Ibn Said, also known as “Uncle Moreau” was unusual among enslaved people in the antebellum United States in that before he was captured he was highly educated and could read and write fluently at a time when most African slaves were illiterate. Said’s autobiography … Read MoreOmar Ibn Said (1770-1864)
The Black Loyalists were the approximately 3,000 African American supporters of the British during the American Revolution who were repatriated to British Canada at the end of the conflict. Most settled in Nova Scotia and established what would be for decades, the largest concentration of … Read MoreBlack Loyalists Exodus to Nova Scotia (1783)
Sierra Leone’s founding dates back to 1787 when several waves of freed black settlers originating from England, Nova Scotia, and Jamaica all arrived in the area. Utilizing some English government funding, The Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor, an abolitionist group which included … Read MoreFounding of Sierra Leone, 1787
Thomas L. Jennings was the first black man to receive a patent. The patent was awarded on March 3, 1821 (US Patent 3306x) for his discovery of a process called dry-scouring which was the forerunner of today’s modern dry-cleaning. Jennings was born free in New … Read MoreThomas L. Jennings (1791- 1856)
Titus Cornelius, also known as Titus Tye, was an escaped slave who fought with the British in the American Revolution, eventually rising to the rank of colonel and leading the Black Brigade of guerrilla fighters. Challenging Patriot forces primarily in New York and New Jersey, … Read MoreColonel Tye (1753-1780)
Colonel Stephen Blucke led an all-black Regiment that fought for the British during the American Revolution. He settled in Birchtown, Nova Scotia in 1783 and became a leader in the Black Loyalist community. During the Revolutionary War, the most famous of the Black Loyalist Military … Read MoreStephen Blucke (?-1792)
