Robert James Harlan was an entrepreneur, businessman, and army officer who devoted the second half of his life to political and civic service. Among his many accomplishments, in an 1879 speech before Congress titled “Migration is the Only Remedy for Our Wrongs,” Harlan argued for … Read MoreRobert James Harlan (1816-1897)
Reverend John Jasper is arguably one of the most famous black ministers of nineteenth-century Richmond, Virginia, who gained popularity for his electrifying preaching style and his ability to spiritually move both black and white Baptists. He began his career in the early 1840s, preaching at … Read MoreJohn J. Jasper (1812-1901)
Image Ownership: Public Domain Jermain Wesley Loguen was born into slavery on February 5, 1813, in Tennessee. His mother was owned by Loguen’s father and master. In 1834, Loguen escaped from bondage and fled to St. Catherine’s, Ontario, where he stayed there briefly before finding … Read MoreJermain Wesley Loguen (1813-1872)
The youngest of thirteen children, Anthony Burns was born into slavery in Virginia on May 31, 1834. His family was owned by John Suttle. His mother married three times. Burns’s father was her third husband, but he died when Anthony was very young. After John … Read MoreAnthony Burns (1834-1862)
The New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741 is an extraordinarily complex story. Some historians have dismissed the idea that slaves actually conspired to overthrow chattel bondage and gain their freedom, while others have argued that the events in New York were part of a mixed … Read MoreNew York Slave Conspiracy (1741)
Between twenty-five and fifty blacks congregated at midnight in New York City, New York on April 6, 1712. With guns, swords and knives in hand, the slaves first set fire to an outhouse then fired shots at several white slave owners, who had raced to … Read MoreNew York City Slave Uprising (1712)
Frederick Douglass was born into Maryland slavery in 1817 to a slave mother and a slave master father. Young Douglass toiled on a rural plantation and later in Baltimore’s shipyards as a caulker. Douglass, however, learned to read and soon sought out abolitionist literature that … Read MoreFrederick Douglass (1817-1895)
William J. Seymour was born in Centerville, Louisiana, to former slaves Simon and Phillis Seymour, who raised him in the Baptist church. While living in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was influenced by holiness teachings, and then he moved to Houston, Texas, where he heard Charles Fox … Read MoreWilliam J. Seymour (1870-1922)
Rev. Peter Barrow moved his family from Mississippi to Spokane, Washington in 1889. Almost immediately upon arriving, he began to involve himself politically and religiously in the city’s early life. According to Union Army Pension Records, Barrow was born into slavery in 1840 near Petersburg, … Read MorePeter Barrow (1840-1906)
Dr. Matthew Oliver Ricketts was the generally acknowledged political leader of Omaha’s African Americans at the turn of the 20th century. Ricketts was born to an enslaved couple near New Castle, Kentucky in 1858. He later received a degree from Lincoln Institute at Jefferson City, … Read MoreMatthew Oliver Ricketts (1853-1917)
