*On this date in 1811, we affirm the Valongo Wharf. This was a Portuguese slave trade processing location in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its location is between the current Coelho e Castro and Sacadura Cabral streets. We use this date because Rio de Janeiro was founded on March 1, 1565. In the mid-1400s, Brazil […]
learn more*Angola, Florida, is celebrated on this date, c1812. This Black community of up to 750 Maroons lived in Florida from 1812 until it became a U.S. territory in 1821 when it was destroyed. The location was near Manatee River in Bradenton, Florida, near Manatee Mineral Springs Park. The exact location is expansive, ranging from where […]
learn more*Black history and the War of 1812 are celebrated on this date in 1812. This was a conflict between England and the United States. Blacks fought on both sides though many fought for the same reason: freedom from chattel slavery. In the Revolutionary War, black and white patriots fought together, which helped convince many Northern states […]
learn more*The Black Seminole town of Pilaklikaha, Florida, is celebrated on this date in 1813. Established about one mile east of Bushnell and two miles north of Tarrytown, Florida, it was a needed refuge from white-American oppression against Africans and indigenous Native people. Pilaklikaha means “many ponds” in the Mikasuki language, and Pilaklikaha was the largest and […]
learn more*The Alexander F. Cochrane Proclamation was issued on this date in 1814. The British decree invited Americans who wished to emigrate to join the British during the War of 1812. Although it did not explicitly mention enslaved Africans, it was taken by all as addressed to them. The Cochrane Proclamation stated: Whereas it has been […]
learn more*On this date in 1814, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was composed. This is the national anthem of the United States. Originally a poem, it was written by 35-year-old white-American slave owner and lawyer Francis Scott Key. He wrote it after witnessing the defense of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812, which occurred against British ships of the Royal Navy in Baltimore Harbor during the Battle […]
learn more*The Negro Fort is celebrated on November 13, 1814. Also known as Fort Gadsden and the Prospect Bluff Historic Site, it is located in Franklin County, Florida. It was constructed on the Apalachicola River, 6 miles SW of Sumatra, Florida. The British built the site during the War of 1812. After the British evacuated Florida […]
learn more*The White House of the Confederacy was built on this date in 1815. It is a historic house in the Court End neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. It was built as the main executive residence of the sole President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, from August 1861 until April 1865. It was considered the Confederate States’ counterpart to the White House in […]
learn more*The birth of Emily D. West is celebrated on this date, c.1815. She was a Black indentured servant and a folk heroine whose presence during the Texas Revolution is identified with the song “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” West was a free Mulatto woman from New Haven, Connecticut. In 1835 she was contracted to James Morgan to […]
learn moreOn this date in 1815, the Seminole Wars began when a U.S. government, under pressure from Georgia slaveholders, ordered Colonel Edmund Gaines to attack and destroy a Negro Fort on the banks of the Apalachicola River in Florida.
learn more*The Bussa Rebellion began on April 14, 1816. Lasting three days, it was the largest slave revolt in Barbadian history. The rebellion, which took its name from the African slave Bussa, who led it, was the first of three mass slave rebellions in the British West Indies. It was eventually defeated by the colonial militia […]
learn more*On this date in 1816, Argentina gained independence from Spain. This resulted from the Argentine War of Independence, fought from 1810 to 1818. The population of Buenos Aires was highly militarized during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata, part of the Anglo-Spanish War. Buenos Aires was captured in 1806 and then liberated […]
learn more*The American Colonization Society (ACS) was founded on this date in 1816. Robert Finley established the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, which was officially established at the Davis Hotel in Washington, D.C. The ACS supported the migration of free American Blacks back to Africa. From 1821 to 1822, the Society helped to find a colony on the Pepper […]
learn more*On this date in 1818, we celebrate the founding of Longtown (Greenville settlement), Ohio. The James and Sophia Clemens Farmstead is one of the oldest and last remaining agricultural resources in one of Ohio’s earliest Black settlements, Longtown (Greenville settlement). This farmstead was the home of James and Sophia Clemens, the settlement’s founders. They were […]
learn more*The Battle of Grahamstown took place on this date in 1819. This was part of the Fifth Xhosa War at the frontier settlement of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The battle defended the town by the British garrison, aided by a group of Khoekhoe marksmen, attacking Xhosa warriors. When a British-led force seized […]
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