*On this date in 1858, The African Civilization Society is celebrated. Several prominent members of the historic Weeksville community in New York City founded this emigration organization. The organization was intended to promote emigration to Liberia, which gained independence in 1847, and create a competing “free-labor” cotton industry with the slavery-based cotton industries of the […]
learn moreOn this date in 1859, two of the five Black abolitionist in the raid on Harpers Ferry, Shields Green and John Anthony Copeland, were hanged. The conspirators were put to death for their participation in John Brown’s revolt against slavery.
Copeland was led to the gallows shouting, “I am dying for freedom. I could not die for a better cause. I would rather die than be a slave.”
learn moreThis date in 1787 recalls the Rankin House, a pivotal point of shelter for many Black slaves escaping bondage before emancipation.
learn more*The Contraband Relief Association was formed on this date in 1862. Washington, D.C., in 1862, became a beacon of liberty for enslaved individuals in bordering slave states like Maryland and Virginia. Many of these individuals ran away and crossed into the District to pursue their liberation. That year, Congress passed the Compensated Emancipation Act, ending […]
learn moreOn this date in 1862, Black slaves commandeered the Confederate ship “the Planter.”
It had just gotten dark on that evening in 1862, and General Roswell Ripley and the other White confederate officers of the steamer, had gone ashore to attend a party in Charleston, leaving the Black crew alone. Slave Robert Smalls and the Black crew’s families came aboard the Planter. Smalls was the quartermaster, or wheelman, of the ship and knew all the routing channels in Charleston harbor and the gun and troop positions of the confederate armies guarding the harbor.
learn more*On This date in 1862 the first Watch Night Services were celebrated in Back communities in America.
The Watch Night service can be traced back to gatherings also known as “Freedom’s Eve.” On that night, Black slaves and free blacks came together in churches and private homes all across the nation awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation actually had become law. Lincoln had used the occasion of the Union victory at Antietam to issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the rebellious states after January 1, 1863.
learn more*William A. Hunton was born on this date in 1865. He was a Black activist, teacher, and administrator. Hunton was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, and was the son of Stanton and Mary A. Johnson Hunton. The Hunton home was an “underground railway station” where John Brown occasionally held conferences on abolitionism. He received his A.M. degree from […]
learn moreOn this date in 1866, the Black citizens of
Washington, D.C., celebrated the abolition of slavery.
A demonstration of 4,000 to 5,000 people assembled at the White House there they were addressed by (then) President Andrew Johnson. Marching past 10,000 cheering spectators, the procession, led by two Black regiments, continued up Pennsylvania Avenue to Franklin Square for religious services and speeches by prominent politicians.
A sign on top of the speaker’s platform read: “We have received our civil rights. Give us the right of suffrage and the work is done.”
learn more*The National Civil Rights Museum was established on April 23, 1991. The Institution is a complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis, Tennessee; its exhibits trace the history of the American abolitionist and American civil rights movement from the 17th century to the present. The site opened as the 16-room Windsor Hotel in 1924 […]
learn moreOn this date in 2004, the Public Dedication of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC) took place. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a testimonial and tribute to freedom. It brings to life the significance and consequence of struggles for freedom around the world and throughout history, including in today’s world.
learn more*The Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation opened on this date in 2006. The institute is a leading center specializing in researching the history of slavery and serving as a research hub concerning contemporary slavery and human rights abuses in the present age. It is at the University of Hull, in Kingston […]
learn more*On this date in 2021, Juneteenth National Freedom Day became a federal holiday. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris signed into law a bill establishing Juneteenth National Independence Day, a celebration designating the end of slavery in the United States, as a federal holiday. Biden said during remarks in the East Room of the […]
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