William Harvey Carney was born a slave in Norfolk, Virginia in 1840. His father William Sr. had escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad and eventually earned enough money to buy the freedom of his wife and son. After freeing his family, the reunited Carneys moved … Read MoreWilliam H. Carney (1840-1908)
Following the Union Army victory at Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation. This document gave the states of the Confederacy until January 1, 1863 to lay down their arms and peaceably reenter the Union; if these states … Read MoreEmancipation Proclamation (1863)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written and published by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852, was the most popular 19th century novel and, after the Bible, was the second-best-selling book of that century. Over 300,000 copies were sold in the United States in its first year alone. The … Read MoreUncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
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- )
Josiah Henson was born into slavery on June 15, 1789 in Charles County, Maryland. As a young boy he witnessed slavery’s cruelties inflicted on his immediate family. Young Henson watched his father receive fifty lashes for standing up to a slave owner and then witnessed … Read MoreJosiah Henson (1789-1883)
John Henry “Jack” Yates, minister and educator, was born a slave to Robert and Rachael Yates in Gloucester County, Virginia, on July 11, 1828. As a slave, Yates learned to read and write, and acquired the skills of carpentry. During his bondage, he married Harriet … Read MoreJohn Henry “Jack” Yates (1828-1897)
Born into slavery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 14, 1760, Richard Allen went on to become an educator, writer, minister and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Benjamin Chew, a Quaker lawyer, owned the Allen family, which included Richard’s parents and three other children. … Read MoreRichard Allen [Pennsylvania] (1760-1831)
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)
George Rawles was born in South Carolina to a young slave mother owned by Benjamin Rawles II. At the age of 17 and now living in Perry County, Mississippi, he was given to his master’s son, Benjamin Rawles III to be his body servant during … Read MoreGeorge Washington Rawles (1845-1922)
Blanche Kelso Bruce was born a slave in 1841 in Prince Edward County, Virginia but was raised in Missouri. Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, Bruce fled to Kansas, becoming a free man before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. After the Civil War he returned … Read MoreBlanche Kelso Bruce (1841-1898)
