Alexander P. Ashbourne was an early inventor. He was born into slavery in Philadelphia around 1820. There are very few documented facts about his personal life. He grew up cutting wheat alongside his family members. In his youth, Ashbourne began to think of more efficient … Read MoreAlexander P. Ashbourne (1820-1915)
Born into slavery about January 1830, John Brown was owned by a leading Southampton County, Virginia planter named Robert Ridley. When Ridley died in 1852, Brown’s wife (whose name is unknown), two daughters and one brother were sold and taken to Mississippi. He remarried about … Read MoreJohn Brown (1830-1900)
Charles Caldwell was a prominent Mississippi Republican during the Reconstruction era who spent his political career advocating for increased racial equality in the state. Charles Caldwell is believed to have been born in 1831, although the exact details of his birth and childhood are unknown. He was born into slavery and as … Read MoreCharles Caldwell (ca. 1831-1875)
Scipio Africanus Jones was a prominent Arkansas African American defense attorney in the late 19th and early 20th century. He opposed Arkansas’s Jim Crow laws and successfully argued cases before the United States Supreme Court between 1913 and 1925. Known for his pro bono work for impoverished African American defendants, Jones … Read MoreScipio Africanus Jones (1863-1943)
On Sunday, September 9th, 1739 the British colony of South Carolina was shaken by a slave uprising that culminated with the death of sixty people. Led by an Angolan named Jemmy, a band of twenty slaves organized a rebellion on the banks of the Stono River. After breaking into Hutchinson’s store the band, … Read MoreStono Rebellion (1739)
Millie Ringold was a gold prospector, boarding house proprietor, and long-time resident of the Yogo mining district in the Little Belt Mountains of central Montana. According to the 1900 census, Millie Ringold—whose names are variously spelled Molly, Ringo, and Ringgold—was born a slave in 1845 in Virginia. By the 1870s she … Read MoreMillie Ringold (1845-1906)
William Johnson, known as the Barber of Natchez, was one of the most prominent African Americans in pre-Civil War Mississippi. Johnson was born enslaved on December 20, 1809, in Mississippi Territory. His father, also named William Johnson, was his owner, and his mother Amy was one of the … Read MoreWilliam Johnson Jr. (1809-1851)
Dr. James Durham has been widely acknowledged as the first recognized African American to be a physician in the United States. Due to lack of detailed documentation of his life, little is known about him including the date and manner of his death, as he would go … Read MoreJames Durham (1762-1802?)
Eulalie de Mandeville was born in 1774 in New Orleans, Louisiana, from the alliance between the prosperous French nobleman, Pierre Philippe Mandeville de Marigny, and one of his slaves, Marie-Jeanne. Eulalie was freed by her paternal grandparents in 1779 and was raised by them. As a member of a … Read MoreEulalie de Mandeville (1774-1848)
As a former slave in George Washington’s household, Ona “Oney” Judge is best remembered for her escape to New Hampshire. Born at Mount Vernon, the Washingtons’ Virginia plantation, around 1773 (exact date not known) to an indentured servant named Andrew Judge and a slave name Betty, Ona “Oney” … Read MoreOna “Oney” Judge (1773-1848)
