People, Locations, Episodes

Matthew Gaines, Minister, and Politician born

*Matthew Gaines was born on this date in 1840. He was a Black community leader, minister, and Texas State Senator. Matthew Gaines was born near Alexandria, Louisiana, to a slave woman owned by the Martin Despallier family. Gaines learned to read from a white boy who smuggled in books. This boy may have been young […]

J. R. Kealoha, Soldier born

*The birth of J. R. Kealoha is celebrated on this date in 1840. He was a Native Hawaiian citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii who became a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War. Kealoha enlisted in the 41st United States Colored Infantry, a United States Colored Troops regiment formed in Pennsylvania. Participating in the […]

Felix Battles, Soldier, and Barber born

*The birth of Felix Battles is celebrated on this date in 1840. He was a Black soldier and barber. Born enslaved on a cotton plantation near Memphis, TN, Battles spent his childhood near Holly Springs, MS. Between 1856 and 1860, he escaped his enslavers. He is in the 1860 census in Dubuque, Iowa, with three […]

Lewis Henry Douglass, Administrator born

9*Lewis Henry Douglass was born on this date in 1840. He was a Black typesetter, soldier, teacher, and administrator. He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and was the oldest son of Frederick Douglass and his first wife, Anna Murray Douglass. He was well educated and, as a boy, apprenticed in Rochester, New York, as a typesetter for […]

Yaa Asantewaa born

*Yaa Asantewaa was born on this date in 1840.  She was an African farmer, politician, military leader, and queen mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire, now part of modern-day Ghana. Born in Besease, in central Ghana, Asantewaa was the older of two children. Her brother, Afrane Panin, became the chief of Edweso, a nearby […]

Henry Morton Stanley, Colonial Administrator born

*Sir Henry Morton Stanley was born on this date in 1841. He was a white-European (Welsh) journalist, explorer, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician.  Born as John Rowlands in Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales. His mother, Elizabeth Parry, was 18 years old at his birth. She abandoned him as a very young baby and cut off all communication. Stanley never knew his father, […]

Blanche K. Bruce, Senator born

On this date, Blanche K. Bruce was born in 1841. He was an early Black senator from Mississippi during the Reconstruction era.

Pierre Landry, Lawyer born

*On this date we recognize the birth of Pierre Landry, a Black editor, chef, politician, and lawyer, born in 1841.

He was the slave son of his owner, born in Donaldsonville, LA As a young boy, he lived with a local free Black couple, attended a school for free Blacks on his father/owner’s plantation, and learned the skills to become a chef. Upon the death of his owner in 1854, Landry was sold as part of a disposition of the estate. With his new owner, he served as property superintendent, pastry chef, and plantation store manager.

George Ruby, Politician, and Teacher born

*The birth of George Ruby is celebrated on this date in 1841. He was a Black teacher, journalist, and politician. George Thompson Ruby was born in New York City. His parents were the Rev. Ebenezer Ruby and Jemima Ruby, though their son would claim that his father was an aristocratic white man. He was mulatto. Ruby […]

William D. Coleman, Politician born.

*William D. Coleman was born on this date in 1842. He was a Black Americo-Liberian politician. Of mixed race, William David Coleman was born into slavery in Fayette County, Kentucky. He emigrated to Liberia with his family when he was 11 years old. Upon their arrival, the family consisted of William, his widowed mother Ellen, and three […]

Robert B. Elliott, Soldier, and Politician born

On this date, we remember Robert Brown Elliott, a Black lawyer, politician, and military officer born in 1842.

Elliot was born and educated in Liverpool, England. After serving in the British navy, Elliott arrived in Boston in 1867. Robert Elliott was a brilliant lawyer who was admitted to the South Carolina bar and elected to the South Carolina legislature in 1868 during Reconstruction. In March 1869, Elliott was appointed assistant adjutant-general, becoming the first black commanding general of the South Carolina National Guard.

Josiah T. Walls, Soldier and Politician born

Josiah Walls was born on this date in 1842. He was a Black soldier, teacher, and politician. He has the awkward distinction of twice being unseated in Congress by opponents who challenged the election.

Joseph Cheeseman, Politician born.

*Joseph Cheeseman was born on this date in 1843. He was a Black African politician. Born in Edina in Grand Bassa County, Liberia, Joseph James Cheeseman was the son of Rev. John H. Cheeseman and Martha Cheeseman. He was educated at Liberia College (now the University of Liberia). In the decades after 1868, escalating economic difficulties […]

James O’Hara, Congressman born

*This date in 1844 marks the birth of James Edward O’Hara. He was a Black politican, representing North Carolina’s forty-eighth and forty-ninth congresses.

The son of an Irish merchant, O’Hara was born in New York City and attended public schools there. In 1862 he moved to North Carolina with a group of missionaries and began studying law. In June of 1871 O’Hara was admitted to the North Carolina Bar, starting practice in Enfield and Halifax County. He also served as a secretary for the Freedmen’s Bureau.

The Dominican Republic Gains Independence From Haiti

*The Dominican Republic gained independence from Haiti on this date in 1844. At the beginning of the 1800s, the colony of Santo Domingo, which had once been the headquarters of Spanish power in the New World, was in decline. During this time, Spain was embroiled in various wars to maintain control of the Americas. With […]