Peter Hill, a clockmaker, was born on July 19, 1767 in the Burlington Township, New Jersey. He is assumed to be the son of slaves owned by a clockmaker named Joseph Hollinshead, Jr. Peter Hill grew up in the Hollinshead household and as he grew … Read MorePeter Hill (1767-1820)
Jeremiah Haralson was born near Columbus, Georgia on April 1, 1846. The slave of Georgia planter John Haralson, he was taken to Alabama where he remained in bondage until 1865. It is unclear as to what he did in the earlier years of his freedom, … Read MoreJeremiah Haralson (1846-1916)
John Wesley Cromwell was a historian, editor, educator and lawyer who was born into slavery on September 5, 1846 in Portsmouth, Virginia. He was the youngest child of Willis Hodges Cromwell and Elizabeth Carney Cromwell, who had twelve children. In 1851 Willis Cromwell obtained his … Read MoreJohn Wesley Cromwell (1846-1927)
Fisk Jubilee Singer and preacher Isaac Dickerson was born enslaved in Wytheville, Virginia in 1852 and orphaned by the age of five. His earliest memory was his father’s sale to a slave trader in Richmond, Virginia. Young Isaac was treated kindly by his master, a … Read MoreIsaac Dickerson (1852-1900)
Born a slave, Thomas Rutling was one of only four Fisk Jubilee Singers who remained with the company through all three of their pioneering tours between 1872 and 1877. After completing a tour of Europe he refused to return to racist America, he lived the … Read MoreThomas Rutling (1854-1915)
Oscar James Dunn was Louisiana’s first black lieutenant governor, serving from 1868 to 1871, and one of three who held that post in the state during the Reconstruction era. Dunn was born enslaved in New Orleans in 1826 to Maria Dunn who was also enslaved … Read MoreOscar J. Dunn (ca. 1825-1871)
Robert Carlos DeLarge was born a slave in Aiken, South Carolina on March 15, 1842. Rare for that period, DeLarge graduated from Wood High School in Charleston and worked as a tailor and farmer before becoming involved in politics. He served as an agent for … Read MoreRobert Carlos DeLarge (1842-1874)
The Underground Railroad was established to aid enslaved people in their escape to freedom. The railroad was comprised of dozens of secret routes and safe houses originating in the slaveholding states and extending all the way to the Canadian border, the only area where fugitives … Read MoreThe Underground Railroad (1820-1861)
A successful business owner and real estate investor, Charles Owens became one of the most prominent African Americans in Los Angeles by the end of the nineteenth century. Born into slavery in Texas, Charles’s father, Robert Owens, purchased his family’s freedom and migrated to Los … Read MoreCharles Owens (?-1882)
Peyton Colony was a freedmen’s community established in 1865 by Peyton Roberts (c.1820-1888), an ex-slave who migrated to Caldwell County, Texas. Roberts was born enslaved on the William Roberts Plantation in Virginia. Roberts and several families on the Roberts Plantation gained their freedom at the … Read MorePeyton Colony, Texas (1865- )
