Educator Lulu Merle Johnson was born on September 14, 1907, in the town of Gravity, Iowa to Jeanette (Burton) and Richard Johnson. Her mother was the daughter of freed slaves, and her father, formerly enslaved, owned and operated his own barbershop. The family were the … Read MoreLulu Merle Johnson (1907-1995)
Following the passage of the 13th Amendment on January 31, 1865, slavery was officially ended throughout the United States, including in the eleven former Confederate States. Almost immediately governments in these states began a process to reestablish white supremacy in the law. The result was … Read MoreMississippi Black Codes, 1865-1866
In the 1856 landmark case Mason v. Smith, Bridget “Biddy” Mason sued her master for her and her family’s freedom, a full year before the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision. In the Dred Scott case, the court ruled that enslaved persons did not become … Read MoreThe Bridget “Biddy” Mason Case, 1856
Cato Howe was an enslaved African-American who served in the American Revolutionary War as a courier and a spy. Service in the American Revolutionary War gives a person the status of Patriot. There is little information about the early life of Howe before the war. … Read MoreCato Howe (?- 1824)
Henry Vinton Plummer was an American Baptist preacher and a chaplain with the United States Army with the Buffalo Soldiers. Plummer was born into slavery on July 30, 1844 on the Three Sister Plantation near Bowie, Maryland. His father was Adam Francis Plummer, and his … Read MoreHenry V. Plummer (1844-1905)
John B (for the Baptist) Stradford was born a free man in Versailles, Kentucky in 1861. His father, J.C. Stradford was a former slave who had been emancipated and was living in Stradford, Ontario (Canada) but who returned to the U.S. and was in Versailles … Read MoreJohn “the Baptist” Stradford (1861-1935)
James Lewis was born free on September 11 in either 1832 or 1833 in Woodville, Mississippi. Early in his life, he worked on steamboats that traveled between New Orleans and St. Louis. Later in life, Lewis recalled how he would use passes issued to him … Read MoreJames Lewis (1832/33-1914)
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)
