Toussaint L’Ouverture was a former slave who rose to become the leader of the only successful slave revolt in modern history known as the Haitian Revolution. Born into slavery on May 20, 1743 in the French colony of Saint Dominque, L’Ouverture was the eldest son of Gaou Guinon, an African prince … Read MoreToussaint L’Ouverture (1743-1803)
Pioneering cartographer and meteorologist Jean-Baptist Lislet-Geoffroy was born August 23, 1755 in Saint-Pierre, Réunion, a French island colony in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar and southern Africa. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, a white French engineer, and an African princess and ex-slave … Read MoreJean Baptiste Lislet-Geoffroy (a.k.a. Geoffroy L’Islet, 1755-1836)
Hercules Washington was the enslaved head cook at George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation home where he prepared meals for decades for the Washington family and the guests who visit the mansion. Hercules was most likely born in 1755 somewhere in Virginia although the exact place … Read MoreHercules Washington (Enslaved Cook of George Washington) (ca. 1755-?)
Samuel “Sambo” Anderson was one of the enslaved people on George Washington’s Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon. The early history of Anderson is unclear but what is known is Anderson was from what is now the west African nation of Guinea. Anderson claimed to have been … Read MoreSamuel “Sambo” Anderson (?-1845)
Rachel Pringle Polgreen, a free mulatto woman, became infamous during the 1770s to 1780s, as the first woman of color to own a Hotel-Tavern in Bridgetown, Barbados, based on the (sexual) entertainment of transient British Naval Officers. Visitors to this hotel included numerous prominent officers … Read MoreRachel Pringle Polgreen (1753-1791)
Francisca da Silva de Oliveira, better known as Chica da Silva (or spelled Xica da Silva), was a Brazilian woman born into slavery, who went on to gain her freedom and become a powerful and well-known member of Brazilian society. Silva was born between the … Read MoreChica da Silva (1731/1735-1796)
Jocko Graves was a young African American boy whose service during the American Revolutionary War earned him the commemorative statue, the “lawn jockey.” Graves’s story is a short and tragic one. It begins on Christmas Eve, December of 1776, with General George Washington’s crossing the … Read MoreJocko Graves (1764-1776)
Luis Quintero was a one of the original founders of the City of Los Angeles, then known as El Pueblo de Los Angeles, on September 4, 1781. Quintero, described in Spanish records as a free negro, was a tailor from Los Álamos, Sonora. He was … Read MoreLuis Quintero (1726-1810)
Hannah Archer Till, a former enslaved African American, served as the personal cook for General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. Born in Kent County, Delaware, on November 25, 1721, she was originally named Long Point by her father, an Oneida Indian. Her mother … Read MoreHannah Archer Till (1721-1826)
Quock Walker, an American slave, sued for and won his freedom in June 1781 based on a new Massachusetts Constitution (1780) which declared all men to be born free and equal. Walker was born in central Massachusetts near the town of Barre in 1753 to … Read MoreQuock Walker (1753- ?)
