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 (ca. 1843-1905)
The American Missionary Association (AMA) was an abolitionist group founded on Protestant beliefs. It was focused on the abolition of slavery, education for African Americans, gaining racial equality, and promoting Christian values. They were most prominent in the United States from the antebellum period through Reconstruction. The AMA was founded on … Read MoreAmerican Missionary Association (1846-1999)
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 the colonies. He helped write the Constitution of the newly-independent Haiti. He was born in Bainet (southern Saint-Domingue, present-day Haiti) on … Read MoreJulien Raimond (1744-1801)
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 and an unidentified black … Read MoreAndré Rebouças (1838-1898)
As a former slave in George Washington’s household, Ona “Oney” Judge is best remembered for her escape to New Hampshire. Born at Mount Vernon, the Washingtons’ Virginia plantation, around 1773 (exact date not known) to an indentured servant named Andrew Judge and a slave name Betty, Ona “Oney” … Read MoreOna “Oney” Judge (1773-1848)
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 to Canada. The small black … Read MoreCincinnati Race Riots (1836)
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 in Ripley, Ohio, often going as far as 20 miles on foot into Kentucky to … Read MoreJohn P. Parker (1827-1900)
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 the age of 17 … 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)
George Putnam Riley, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, was an important figure in the Pacific Northwest during the nineteenth century. Riley’s grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War under General Israel Putnam, and his middle name probably refers to his grandfather’s commander. His father, William Riley, was a clothing … Read MoreGeorge Putnam Riley (1833-1905)
