In the account below, attorney and historian James H. Johnston describes six generations of descendants of Yarrow Mamout, a Muslim slave made famous by Charles Willson Peale’s 1819 painting of him in Georgetown in the District of Columbia. Johnston’s discussion of the evolution of his … Read MoreAn American Family’s Multigenerational Rise from Slavery to Harvard University
Long Island-born Jupiter Hammon is believed to be the first published male African American poet and essayist. His “Evening Thought, Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries,” was published in 1760. His first essay, “Winter Piece,” appeared in 1782. The speech below by Hammond is also … Read More(1787) Jupiter Hammon, “An Address to the Negroes in the State of New York”
The Prince Hall Masons are the oldest and largest group of Masons of African origin in the world. Today there are forty Grand Lodges of Prince Hall Freemasonry in the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, and Liberia. These Grand Lodges preside over more than 5,000 … Read MorePrince Hall Masons (1784- )
Image Ownership: Public Domain The Constitutional Convention in 1787 debated the institution of slavery. In the speech below Gouverneur Morris, a Pennsylvania delegate, described the negative impact of the institution on both North and South and in doing so made public at the highest level … Read More(1787) Gouverneur Morris, “The Curse of Slavery”
The slave ship Zong departed the coast of Africa on 6 September 1781 with 470 slaves. Since this human chattel was such a valuable commodity at that time, many captains took on more slaves than their ships could accommodate in order to maximize profits. The … Read MoreThe Zong Massacre (1781)
James Sommersett was the subject of a landmark legal case in Great Britain, which was the first major step in imposing limits on Trans-Atlantic African slavery. Sommersett entered the pages of history when in 1771, he fled his North American owner, Charles Stewart, while both … Read MoreJames Sommersett (ca. 1741-ca. 1772)
Freetown is the capital, principal port, commercial center, and largest city of Sierra Leone. The city was founded by British Naval Lieutenant John Clarkson and freed American slaves from Nova Scotia. Freetown was part of the larger colony of the Sierra Leone which was founded … Read MoreFreetown, Sierra Leone (1792- )
In the following account University of Pittsburgh historian George Reid Andrews provides an introduction to the history of the population of African ancestry in Uruguay. When we think of the great nations of the African diaspora—Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, the United States—the South American republic of … Read MoreAfro-Uruguay: A Brief History
Nanny, known as Granny Nanny, Grandy Nanny, and Queen Nanny was a Maroon leader and Obeah woman in Jamaica during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Maroons were slaves in the Americas who escaped and formed independent settlements. Nanny herself was an escaped slave … Read MoreQueen Nanny of the Maroons (? – 1733)
Carnegie Mellon University historian Edda L. Fields Black’s 2008 book, Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora, opened a vast new area of diasporic study by linking the cultivation of rice in Africa to the rise of this crucially important food … Read MoreDeep Roots Across the Atlantic: Rice and Race in Africa and the Americas
