People, Locations, Episodes

Abolitionism in South America, a story

*Abolitionism in South America is celebrated on this date in 1500. The Valladolid debate (1550–1551) was the first moral debate in European history to discuss the rights and treatment of indigenous people by European colonizers. Held in the Colegio de San Gregorio, in the Spanish city of Valladolid, it was a moral and theological debate about the […]

Bayano, Central American Abolitionist born

*This date celebrates the birth of Bayano, who was born in 1520. Also known as Ballano or Vaino, he was an African revolutionary. Captured from the Yoruba community in West Africa, it has been debated that his name means idol. Different tales tell of their revolt in 1552, beginning on the ship or after landing in Panama’s Darien […]

El Yanga, African Abolitionist born

The birth of El Yanga in circa 1545 is celebrated on this date. He was an African abolitionist and a leader of a slave rebellion in Mexico during the early period of Spanish colonial rule.

Gaspar Yanga, often called Yanga, El Yanga, or Nyanga, was said to be a member of the royal family of Gabon, Africa, before being kidnapped and placed in the Middle Passage to the new world. Yanga came to be the head of a group of slaves who were revolting near Vera Cruz, Mexico, around 1570. Escaping to the highland terrain, he and his people built a small, free colony.

Benkos Biohó, Afro Colombian born

*This date affirms Columbia’s independence from Spain and slavery. This article celebrates the birth of Benkos Biohó, one of the country’s greatest abolitionists. Also known as Domingo Biohó was born in the late 16th century into an African royal family of the Bissagos Islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.  He was kidnapped by the Portuguese slave trader […]

The Palmares Community of Brazil, a story

*The Palmares community in 1605 is celebrated on this date. This was a Brazilian settlement of runaway and freeborn African slaves.

Marie-Joseph Angélique, Abolitionist born

*The birth of Marie-Joseph Angélique is celebrated on this date in c 1705. She was an enslaved Black person whose attempted escape from servitude led to a fire in Montreal, Quebec. Marie-Joseph Angélique was born in Portugal to practitioners in the Middle Passage Atlantic slave trade and sold to a Flemish man who brought her to the […]

John Newton, Slave Trader, and Clergyman born

*John Newton was born on this date in 1725.  He was a white-English slave trader and Anglican clergyman.   John Newton was born in Wapping, London, the son of John Newton, the Elder, a shipmaster in the Mediterranean service, and Elizabeth (née Scatliff). Elizabeth was the only daughter of Simon Scatliff, an instrument maker from […]

Cyrus Bustill, Abolitionist born

*Cyrus Bustill was born on this date in 1732. He was a Black brewer and baker, abolitionist, and community leader. Born in Burlington, New Jersey, Cyrus Bustill was the son of white Quaker lawyer Samuel Bustill and Parthenia, an African woman who was a slave owned by Samuel. After Samuel Bustill died, his widow sold Cyrus […]

Granville Sharpe, British Abolitionist born

Granville Sharpe was born on this date in 1735. He was a European abolitionist and philanthropist.

Joseph Chatoyer, Caribbean Abolitionist, born

*This date in 1738 is celebrated as the birth date of Joseph Chatoyer. Also known as Satuye, Chatoyer was a Garifuna (Carib) chief and abolitionist. Very little is known of his early formative years.  In 1772, the population rebelled. Led by Chatoyer, the First Carib War forced the British to sign a treaty with them in 1773. […]

Elizabeth Freeman, Abolitionist born

*Elizabeth Freeman’s birth in 1742 is celebrated on this date. She was a Black slave and abolitionist.

She was born to enslaved African parents in Claverack, New York. At the age of six months she was purchased, along with her sister, by John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts, whom she served until she was nearly forty. By then she was known as “Mum Bett,” and had a young daughter known as “Little Bett.” Her husband had been killed while fighting in the Revolutionary War.

Hannah Moore, Writer born

*Hannah More was born on this date in 1745. She was a white-English poet and abolitionist. From Stapleton, Gloucestershire, England, Moore was the most influential female member of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the African Slave Trade. She was educated at Bristol, an important slave-trading town, and began to publish her writing in […]

Prince Hall, Preacher, and Mason born

*Prince Hall was born (circa) on this date in 1748. He was an Afro Barbadian preacher, administrator, mason, and businessman.   Prince Hall was born free in Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies. His father, Thomas Prince Hall, was a white Englishman, and his mother was a free Black French woman. In 1765, at 17, he worked his […]

Ottobah Cugoano, Philosopher born

*The birth of Ottobah Cugoano is celebrated on this date, c. 1757.  He was a Black African abolitionist, author, anti-imperialist, and natural rights philosopher.  He was born Quobna Ottobah Cugoano near Ajumako, in modern-day Ghana. He was a Fanti.   At 13, Cugoano was sold into slavery and transported to Grenada to work on an […]

Marie Bernard Couvent, Philanthropist born

*The birth of Marie Bernard Couvent is celebrated on this date in 1757.  She was a Black philanthropist and education advocate.  Born a slave in Benin, Africa, Marie Cirnaire came to New Orleans, Louisiana, and married Bernard Couvent, a carpenter and former slave.  Together, they accumulated property and other assets before he died.  In August […]