*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*The Palmares community in 1605 is celebrated on this date. This was a Brazilian settlement of runaway and freeborn African slaves.
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn moreGranville Sharpe was born on this date in 1735. He was a European abolitionist and philanthropist.
learn more*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. […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn moreWilliam Wilberforce was born on this date in 1759. He was a White British abolitionist.
learn moreJosé Morelos y Pavyn was born on this date in 1765. He was an Afro Mexican priest, soldier, abolitionist, and an early leader of Mexico’s struggle for independence from Spain.
learn more*James Forten’s birth is marked on this date in 1766. He was a Black businessman and abolitionist.
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