There was much racial unrest in New York City, New York in the early 1800s as immigrants from across Europe and migrants from neighboring states arrived in the city. Slavery was abolished in New York state in 1827. Although black New Yorkers were free, many of their families were broken because … Read MoreThe Colored Orphans Asylum of New York (1836-1946)
Image Ownership: Public domain Willis Augustus Hodges was born into a free black family on February 12, 1815, in Blackwater, Princess Anne County, Virginia. Both his parents were free, as well as his grandmother. His grandfather was enslaved as were his parents, but since Hodges’ parents … Read MoreWillis Augustus Hodges (1815-1890)
Quack Walker Lewis, black abolitionist, barber, AND elder (priest) in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was born in Barre, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on August 3, 1798. His father, Peter P. Lewis, was a free black yeoman farmer in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and … Read MoreQ. Walker Lewis (1798–1856)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" Anne Maria Weems is best known as an enslaved person who gained her freedom with a daring escape from slavery. Weems was born into slavery about 1840 in Maryland to John and Arabella Talbot Weems. Her father was a free man … Read MoreAnna Maria Weems (1840-?)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" Jean-Baptiste Belley-Mars, who represented Saint-Domingue in the French National Convention in Paris in 1794, is widely credited with persuading that body to abolish slavery in France and its overseas colonies. Belley-Mars as a boy was kidnapped by slave catchers on the … Read MoreJean-Baptiste Belley-Mars (1747?–1805?)
Image Courtesy of Jean Fagan Yellin Louisa “Lulu” Matilda Jacobs, teacher, equal rights activist, and entrepreneur, was born a slave in Edenton, North Carolina, on October 19, 1833. She was the daughter of congressman and newspaper editor Samuel Tredwell Sawyer and his mixed-race enslaved mistress … Read MoreLouisa Matilda Jacobs (1833–1917)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" Elizabeth A. Parkhill Gloucester, the wife of the Rev. Dr. James Gloucester, was an abolitionist, a supporter of the Underground Railroad, business owner, and considered one of the wealthiest women of her race at the time of her death in 1883. … Read MoreElizabeth A. Parkhill Gloucester (1817-1883)
"Image Ownership: Public Domain" Tunis Campbell was one of the most successful black politicians in the Reconstruction Era. Born the eighth of 10 children to free black parents, John Campbell, a blacksmith and his wife (name unknown) in Middlebrook, New Jersey on April 1, 1812, … Read MoreTunis Gulic Campbell (1812–1891)
Henrietta S. Duterte with one of her children who died in infancy "Image Ownership: Public Domain" Henrietta Smith Bowers Duterte (pronounced Dew-tier), the first female undertaker in the nation, was born free in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was one of 13 children born to John Bowers … Read MoreHenrietta S. Bowers Duterte (1817-1903)
Dido Elizabeth Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray, 1779 “Image Ownership: Public Domain” 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 … Read MoreDido Elizabeth Belle (1761-1804)