People, Locations, Episodes

Willie S. Glanton, Politician born

*Willie S. Glanton was born on this date in 1922. She was a Black lawyer and politician. Willie Stevenson was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the daughter of Ervin S. Stevenson and Willie Ever Parker. She was a graduate of Tennessee State University and Robert Terrell Law School in Washington, D.C., she was admitted to the Iowa […]

Lulu Belle Madison White, Activist born

*Lulu Belle Madison White was born on this date in 1907. She was a Black teacher and activist in Texas during the 1940s and 1950s. Lulu Belle Madison was born in Elmo, Texas, to Samuel Henry Madison and Easter Madison. She was the tenth of their twelve children. Elmo was a predominately black community thirty-five […]

Mabel Hampton, Dancer, and Activist born

*Mabel Hampton was born on this date in 1902.  She was a Black lesbian activist, a dancer, and a philanthropist.  Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Hampton was only two months old when her mother died. She was then raised by her grandmother, who died when Hampton was seven.  In 1909, the seven-year-old Hampton was put on a train to New York […]

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

*The birth of Bayano is celebrated on this date in c 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 either on the ship or after landing in Panama’s […]

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.

Zumbi, Afro Brazilian Abolitionist born

The life of Zumbi in 1655 is celebrated on this date. He was an Afro Brazilian abolitionist and soldier.

Abolitionists in the United States of America, a story

*On this date, in 1688, the Registry shares an article on Abolitionists and the formal beginning of organized group Abolitionism in America.  This movement sought to end slavery in the United States and was active both before and during the American Civil War. In the Americas and Western Europe, abolitionism was a movement that sought to end the Middle Passage (Atlantic […]

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 […]

Anthony Benezet, Abolitionist born

*Anthony Benezet was born on this date in 1713.  He was a white-French American abolitionist.  He was from St. Quentin, northern France, and from a family of Huguenots (French Protestants).   In 1715, when Benezet was two years old, they immigrated to London, where he was educated.  In 1731, at age 17, Benezet and his […]

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.