David Ruggles, abolitionist, businessman, journalist and hydrotherapist, was born in 1810 in Norwich, Connecticut. He attended the Sabbath School for the poor which admitted people of color starting in 1815. In 1827 he left Connecticut for New York City where he operated a grocery store … Read MoreDavid Ruggles (1810-1849)
Attorney, scholar, essayist, and poet George Boyer Vashon made noteworthy contributions to the fight for emancipation and education of blacks. He was born on July 25, 1824, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the third child and only son of an abolitionist, John Bethune Vashon. At age sixteen, … Read MoreGeorge B. Vashon (1824-1878)
On October 16, 1859, in the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) John Brown, an ardent abolitionist, and 21 other men raided a Virginia armory to seize weapons for a planned slavery insurrection. Civilians in the town were alerted when they heard gunshots … Read MoreHarpers Ferry Raid, 1859
Joshua Bowen Smith, caterer, abolitionist, and state senator, was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania in 1813. Details regarding his childhood remain obscure. However, it is known that he was educated in the public school system of Pennsylvania with the assistance of a wealthy Quaker. In 1836 … Read MoreJoshua Bowen Smith (1813-1879)
Edwin Garrison Walker, leatherworker, lawyer, and politician, was born free in Boston, Massachusetts to Eliza and David Walker in 1831. His exact date of birth is unknown. His mother Eliza, whose last name also is unknown, was, according to most sources, a fugitive slave. His … Read MoreEdwin Garrison Walker (1830-1901)
Charles Lenox Remond was born into an elite free Black family in Salem, Massachusetts. His parents, John and Nancy Lenox Remond, had been married by the Rev. Thomas Paul, a prominent African American minister and anti-slavery activist, in 1807. Nancy Lenox’s father was a veteran … Read MoreCharles Lenox Remond (1810-1873)
James Theodore Holly emigrationist, missionary, and bishop, was born in Washington, D.C on October 3, 1829. At age fourteen his family relocated to Brooklyn, New York. His father taught him the shoemaking trade. Then in 1848 he began working as an abolitionist with Lewis Tappan, one … Read MoreJames Theodore Holly (1829-1911)
James G. Barbadoes, abolitionist and colonizationist, was born in 1796. Barbadoes is thought to have come from the Island of Barbados, West Indies. He resided in Boston, Massachusetts for most of his life. Around 1806, Barbadoes married Rebecca (maiden name unknown) and the couple had … Read MoreJames G. Barbadoes (1796-1841)
Theodore Sedgwick Wright, prominent clergyman, antislavery leader, and reformer was thought to have been born in New Jersey in 1797. He attended the New York African Free School. With the help of New York Governor Dewitt Clinton, Arthur Tappan, and others he enrolled in the … Read MoreTheodore Sedgwick Wright (ca. 1797-1847)
James Monroe Whitfield, a black abolitionist and colonizationist, was born on April 10, 1822 in New Hampshire. Little is known about his early life except that he was a descendant of Ann Paul, the sister of prominent black clergyman Thomas Paul. Whitfield had little formal … Read MoreJames Monroe Whitfield (1822-1871)
