Mt. Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in Elsinboro, New Jersey, is the oldest African American church in the state. It is also the oldest continuously operating Black church in the United States. The church was officially founded in 1754 by Rueben Cuff, the son … Read MoreMt. Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal Church, Elsinboro, New Jersey (1754- )
Dido Elizabeth Belle is best known for the 1779 painting of her alongside her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray, the great-niece of William Murray, The First Earl of Mansfield. The Earl, also known as Lord Mansfield, was at the time the Lord Chief Justice of England … Read MoreDido Elizabeth Belle (1761-1804)
First Baptist Church of Petersburg, Virginia, originally known as the First African Baptist Church, is the oldest continuously operating black church in the state and is the mother church of numerous Baptist congregations in Virginia. The evangelical anti-slavery message of the equality of all men who were … Read MoreFirst Baptist Church, Petersburg, Virginia (1756- )
Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME) Church, founded in 1796, is currently located in Harlem, New York. It is the oldest African American church in the state of New York and was established when black parishioners left John Street Methodist Church in that city. The group, … Read MoreMother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, New York City (1796- )
It is presumed that Silas or Cyrus Tiffany, an African American, was the son of Nathan Tiffany and Sarah Harvey and was born in 1738. Little is known of Cyrus Tiffany’s early life. Historic references show that Tiffany was a Revolutionary War Fifer, perhaps as … Read MoreCyrus Tiffany (1738-1818)
Jacob Francis, Revolutionary War veteran, was born on January 15, 1754 in Amwell, New Jersey. His mother was African American and his father’s race was unknown. What is known of Francis’ childhood is found in the personal testimony included on his military pension application. It … Read MoreJacob Francis (1754-1836)
Adolf Badin, also known as Adolf Ludvig Gustav Fredrik Albert/Couschi, was born in St. Croix, Danish West Indies in 1747, and died in 1822 in Sweden. Badin came to Sweden a slave but became a titled person in the courts of King Fredrick and Queen … Read MoreAdolf Badin (1747-1822)
The Ahosi (Amazons) of Dahomey were a military corps of women appointed to serve in battles under the direction of the Fon king, who ruled over a nation that included much of present-day southern Togo and southern Benin. They emerged during the Eighteenth Century and … Read MoreAhosi (Amazons) of Dahomey
Charles Lewis was a sailor and soldier during the American Revolutionary War. Lewis was born sometime around 1760 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia on Bel Aire, the Lewis Family Plantation owned by John Lewis. John and a free mulatto woman, Josephine Lewis, were the parents of … Read MoreCharles Lewis (ca. 1760-1833)
Alan Gilbert, University of Denver political scientist and anti-racist activist, is the author of Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence, one of the few works that examines the free and enslaved blacks who joined the American Patriots and the … Read MoreFighting for Freedom on Both Sides of the American Revolution
