Mary Virginia Wood is best known as the mother of poet, diarist, and abolitionist Charlotte Forten, but she was also an abolitionist in her own right. Born enslaved in Hertford, Perquimans County, North Carolina, Mary was the eldest of the four daughters of wealthy planter … Read MoreMary Virginia Wood (Forten) (1815-1840)
On August 24, 2019, African American abolitionist John Pierre Burr was honored and formally acknowledged by the Aaron Burr Family Association as the son of former Vice President Aaron Burr in an unveiling of his headstone at Eden Cemetery near Philadelphia. John Pierre Burr was … Read MoreLouisa Charlotte Burr (1788-1878)
Samuel Scottron was a inventor of the late 1800s, best known for his invention of the curtain rod. It is unclear if Scottron was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or New England in the years 1841 or 1843. What is clear is that the Scottron family … Read MoreSamuel Raymond Scottron (1843(?)- 1905)
The American Missionary Association (AMA) was an abolitionist group founded on Protestant beliefs. Their focuses were on the abolition of slavery, education for African Americans, gaining racial equality, and promoting Christian values. They were most prominent in the United States before and during the Civil Warand during Reconstruction. The AMA was founded on September … Read MoreAmerican Missionary Association (1846-1999)
Petition of the Free People of Color for the Right to Vote in Saint-Domingue, 1790 Image Ownership: Public domain Julien Raimond was a wealthy indigo planter in Saint-Domingue. He is known for his political pamphlets and his struggle with the French National Assembly for racial reforms in … Read MoreJulien Raimond (1744-1801)
Image Ownership: Public domain André Pinto Rebouças was a Brazilian engineer and abolitionist, best known for creating one of the world’s first self-propelled torpedoes during the Paraguayan War. Rebouças was born on January 13, 1838 in Cachoeira, Brazil. The son of Antônio Pereira Rebouças, a prominent lawyer and politician … Read MoreAndré Rebouças (1838-1898)
Image Ownership: Public domain Fewer than half of Cincinnati, Ohio’s Black population remained in the city after the 1829 white riots. Most had left. Many of the 1,100 who stayed were unusually poor, unable to finance emigration to safer places such as surrounding towns, farther west, or … Read MoreCincinnati Race Riots (1836)
John Parker House Museum, Ripley, OhioImage Courtesy of the John Parker House Museum John Parker, inventor and businessman, was also a prominent Underground Railroad conductor before the Civil War. He was reputedly responsible for the rescue of nearly 1,000 enslaved people between 1845 and 1865. Parker repeatedly crossed the Ohio River from his home … Read MoreJohn P. Parker (1827-1900)
Image Ownership: Public domain Louis Delgres, born in Martinique on August 2, 1766, was one of the most important figures in the fight against slavery in the French Caribbean colonies. The child of an inter-racial couple—Elisabeth Morin, black, and Louis Delgres, white—he quickly entered the military in 1783 at … Read MoreLouis Delgres (1766-1802)
Elizabeth Riley was a prominent Bostonian who was deeply involved in the Massachusetts antislavery movement and noted for harboring the fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins in her attic. Riley was born Elizabeth Cook in 1791 in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in Boston and was twice married, first to a man named … Read MoreElizabeth Riley (1791-1855)
