Although much attention is paid to Crispus Attucks who died during the 1770 Boston Massacre, the first African American to take up arms and fight in the American Revolutionary War was a slave who in his youth was known simply as Prince. Though some scholars … Read MorePrince Estabrook (1740?-1830)
In the pre-Civil War United States, a black man who allegedly murdered a prominent white businessman could expect to be summarily tortured and lynched. But in one of most unusual criminal cases of the era, Moses Tate not only avoided a gruesome death but was … Read MoreMoses Tate (1821?- ?)
Edmond Albius was born a slave in 1829, in St. Suzanne, on the island Réunion. His mother died during childbirth, and he never knew his father. In his youth he was sent to work for Botanist Fereol Bellier-Beaumont. The vanilla plant was flourishing in Mexico, … Read MoreEdmond Albius (1829-1880)
Chattel slavery was practiced in the Danish West Indies from around 1650 until July 3, 1848, when Colonial Governor Peter von Scholten issued an emancipation proclamation. The Danish government, however, then enacted rules that kept people enslaved by contracts for another two years. Moreover, in … Read MoreThe Fireburn Labor Riot, United States Virgin Islands (1878)
Founded in 1816, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, the oldest continuously operating African American church in Washington DC, is located at 1334 29th Street NW. The Georgetown community where the church now sits, was a central port for slave and tobacco trading in the early … Read MoreMount Zion United Methodist Church (1816- )
Alexander Kelso Davis was a Mississippi state legislator and a Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi. He was impeached by the resurgent Southern Democrats towards the end of the Reconstruction period in 1876. Davis served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1870 until 1873 representing his constituents in … Read MoreAlexander K. Davis (?- 1884)
Sally Seymour of Charleston, South Carolina built a business empire out of her pastry shop by providing haute cuisine for the city’s most prestigious citizens. She also profited by training and then selling enslaved cooks. Born into slavery, Seymour was the cook and sexual partner … Read MoreSally Seymour (?-1824)
The invention of the fluted or barbed harpoon, which revolutionized the whaling industry, was the brainchild of Lewis Temple, an African American blacksmith and abolitionist born in 1800 in Richmond, Virginia. Historians have not determined whether or not he started life as a slave or … Read MoreLewis Temple (1800-1854)
