First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill lays claim to the designation as the oldest continuously operating African American church in Tennessee because it traces its origin back to First Baptist Colored Mission which first met to hold prayer services in 1835. Up to that point Nashville’s … Read MoreFirst Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, Nashville, Tennessee (1835- )
Often misinterpreted to mean that African Americans as individuals are considered three-fifths of a person or that they are three-fifths of a citizen of the U.S., the three-fifths clause (Article I, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution of 1787) in fact declared that for purposes … Read MoreThe Three-Fifths Clause of the United States Constitution (1787)
Lois Leveen occupies an unusual role as both historian and novelist. Leveen is the author of The Secrets of Mary Bowser, which is based on the true story of a black woman who became a Union spy in the Confederate White House during the Civil … Read MoreIs This Mary Bowser?: The Use and Misuse of Photographs to Reconstruct History
Sarah Rector received international attention at the age of eleven when The Kansas City Star in 1913 publicized the headline, “Millions to a Negro Girl.” From that moment Rector’s life became a cauldron of misinformation, legal and financial maneuvering, and public speculation. Rector was born … Read MoreSarah Rector (1902–1967)
Louise Cecelia Fleming, the first African American to graduate from the Women’s Medical College at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was born January 28, 1862 to slave parents on a plantation near Hibernia in Clay County, Florida. Her father is unknown; she was raised by her mother who … Read MoreLouise Celia “Lulu” Fleming (1862-1899)
In the account below historian Lorraine McConaghy uses the story of black sailor Robert Shorter to indicate that while the Civil War freed nearly four million slaves, it also set in motion the status decline of antebellum African American seamen. The eleven years Robert Shorter … Read MoreEleven Years in the U.S. Navy: The Strange Saga of Robert Shorter
Christian Fleetwood, soldier, choir master, clerk, and abolitionist, was born free in Baltimore, Maryland to Charles Fleetwood and Anna Marie Fleetwood on July 21, 1840. At an early age, Christian Fleetwood showed signs of intelligence and quickly endeared himself to the wealthy sugar merchant John … Read MoreChristian Abraham Fleetwood (1840-1914)
Benjamin A. Boseman, physician, politician, and postmaster, was free born in New York in 1840 to Benjamin A. and Annaretta Boseman. He was the oldest of five children, two girls and three boys. Boseman grew up in Troy, New York where his father served as … Read MoreBenjamin Anthony Boseman (1840-1881)
Robert A. Pinn, attorney, and Civil War hero, received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Pinn was born free to William and Zilphia Broxton-Pinn, in Stark County, Ohio on March 1, 1843. His father William Pinn escaped from slavery and … Read MoreRobert Alexander Pinn (1843-1911)
On June 2, 1863, Harriet Tubman led 150 black Union soldiers, who were part of the U.S. 2nd South Carolina Volunteers, in the Combahee River Raid and liberated more than 700 enslaved people. Tubman, often referred to as “the Moses of her people,” was a … Read MoreCombahee River Raid (June 2, 1863)
