People, Locations, Episodes

Henry Wilson, a political abolitionist behind the scenes

*Henry Wilson was born on February 16, 1812. He was a White American political leader and abolitionist.

From Farmington, N.H., his birth name was Jeremiah Jones Colbath, and was legally changed in 1833. As a young man he operated a shoe factory at Natick, Mass., and attended the Strafford, Wolfsboro, and Concord Academies and taught school in Natick, Mass. He was elected to the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature in 1840. Wilson was an opponent of slavery, which caused him to leave the WHIG party.

Martin Freeman born

*The birth of Martin Freeman in 1826 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black educator, and administrator.

From Rutland, Vermont, Martin Henry Freeman graduated from Middlebury College as Salutatorian in 1849. In 1854, he was appointed Professor at the Allegheny Institute near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which later became Avery College. Here, he gained a great following in mathematics and science. Freeman was appointed President of the school in 1856, the first Black man to hold the position of College President in America.

Scholar, William S. Scarborough born

*This date in 1852 marks the birth of William Sander Scarborough. He was an African American scholar and University President.

William Scarborough was born in Macon, Georgia. As a child he studied with a free Black family and white neighbors learning carpentry and shoe making. He was emancipated during the Civil War, entered Atlanta University in 1869, and then went on to Oberlin College for his Masters degree. He taught for a time amidst the Jim Crow Laws in the south.

The Glass Hill School opens

*The Registry celebrates the opening of the Glass Hill School on this date in 1887. This was one of many primary education schools for Blacks during Reconstruction.

Founded in Wicomico County, Maryland the school was originally identified simply as “ Col’d,” School, an abbreviation used for “Colored” School. The school was abandoned and was scheduled for demolition when Jim Jackson purchased and moved it to Pittsville, MD in 1900. After restoration it became a shop called Schoolhouse Collectibles. The present location is 7915 Maple Street Pittsville, MD.

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Hazel M. Walker, an Ohio pioneer

*Hazel Mountain Walker was born on this date in 1889. She was an African American lawyer and educator.

From Warren, Ohio, she was the daughter of Charles and Alice (Bronson) Mountain. Walker attended Cleveland Normal Training School and in 1909 earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Education from Western Reserve University. During the summers, when she was not teaching, Walker worked towards a Law Degree at Baldwin-Wallace College.

Walt Disney’s first live actor, James Baskett

*On this date we point out the birth of James Baskett in 1904. He was an African American actor.

The Golden thirteen begin training

*This date in 1944 celebrates “The Golden Thirteen.” This was the first African American naval officer-training group in Ameria.

In January of that year, the naval officer corps was all white. There were some one hundred thousand African American enlisted men in the Navy, yet none were officers. In response to growing pressure from American civil rights organizations, the leaders of the Navy reluctantly tackled commissioning a few as officers. Sixteen Black enlisted men were summoned to Camp Robert Smalls, Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois, they were:

LeVar Burton, an international actor

*On this date in 1957 Levar Burton was born. He is an African American Actor and author. From Landstuhl, Germany.

The DuSable Museum opens in Chicago

Chicago’s DuSable Museum was chartered on this date in 1961. The Museum is named for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, an African Haitian who in 1779 established the trading post and permanent settlement which would become known as… Chicago.

African Kunlun Servants in ancient China, a brief story

*On this first day of the 2018 Chinese New Year, we affirm and briefly explore the African Kunlun Servants in ancient China. African slavery in China peaked during the Tang and Song dynasties (960 A.D. to 1279 A.D.), but the number of African slaves taken to China during this 608-year period is unclear. By this […]