Reconstruction began in Federally-occupied Louisiana in the midst of the Civil War. In 1863 African American men in New Orleans called for the right to vote in the new loyal government being organized under Union Army protection. However when President Lincoln announced his new reconstruction … Read More(1864) Arnold Bertonneau, “Every Man Should Stand Equal Before the Law”
By September, 1863 African American men were entering their ninth month of service in the United States Army. They had already shown their valor at Fort Wagner in South Carolina and Port Hudson in Louisiana as well as dozens of other battle sites from Virginia … Read More(1863) J. Stanley, “A Tribute To A Fallen Black Soldier”
African Americans throughout the North held meetings and church services on January 1, 1863 to celebrate the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. Almost always the festivities revolved around a central speaker. One of those speeches was delivered by Rev. Jonathan C. Gibbs, pastor of the … Read More(1863) Rev. Jonathan C. Gibbs, “Freedom’s Joyful Day”
For the first two years of the Civil War black and white abolitionists urged both the liberation of the slaves and the recruitment of African American men in defense of the Union. Barely three months after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, Frederick Douglass gave … Read More(1863) Frederick Douglass, Men of Color, To Arms!
March 5, 1862 As the Civil War raged in the South and West, William C. Nell, a prominent abolitionist and historian gave the keynote address at the Crispus Attucks Commemoration in Allston Hall in Boston honoring the only African American among the five men killed … Read More(1862) William C. Nell Speaks At The Crispus Attucks Commemoration, Boston
Although history has rendered Abraham Lincoln the Great Emancipator, his dedication to the anti-slavery cause was questioned by many abolitionists during his first presidential campaign of 1860. H. Ford Douglas, a Virginia-born fugitive slave who lived in Illinois in 1860, correctly saw Lincoln as an … Read More(1860) H. Ford Douglas, “I Do Not Believe in the Antislavery of Abraham Lincoln”
York was an African American slave best known for his participation in the (Meriwether) Lewis and (William) Clark Expedition of 1804-1806. York was born in Caroline County, Virginia in 1770. York, his father, mother (Rose), and younger sister and brother (Nancy and Juba) were all … Read MoreYork (1770-1832)
Wysinger v. Crookshank is the first case that rendered school segregation of African Americans in California contrary to the law. On October 1, 1888, 58-year-old Edmond Wysinger, a former slave who bought his freedom working in the California mines, moved to Visalia, California. When he … Read MoreWysinger v. Crookshank, 1888
William J. Seymour was born in Centerville, Louisiana, to former slaves Simon and Phillis Seymour, who raised him in the Baptist church. While living in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was influenced by holiness teachings, and then he moved to Houston, Texas, where he heard Charles Fox … Read MoreWilliam J. Seymour (1870-1922)
Before the Civil War, when he was 18, William Grose left his home in Washington, D.C. and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Assigned to the USS Vincennes in 1853, he went to South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia and the Arctic during his tour … Read MoreWilliam Grose (1835-1898)
