People, Locations, Episodes

The Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter Newspaper is Published

*The Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter newspaper, published on this date in 1847, was an abolitionist and women’s rights newspaper printed in Pittsburgh.   Jane Swisshelm edited the paper, and Robert M. Riddle printed it. Swisshelm funded the work through money in her estate; at the time, the abolitionist newspaper in Pittsburgh had closed. Crowds were waiting in the […]

John Q. Adams, News Publisher born

*John Quincy Adams was born on this date in 1848. He was a Black businessman and newspaper publisher.

Adams was one of four children of the Reverend Henry Adams, minister of the Fifth Street Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky, and Margaret Priscilla Corbin of Chillicothe, Ohio. He received his elementary and secondary education in private schools at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and Yellow Springs, Ohio, later graduating from Oberlin College in Ohio. Upon graduation he returned to Louisville where he began teaching in his father’s school and in other parts of the state.

John A. Burr, Inventor born

*The birth of John Burr is celebrated on this date in 1848. He was a Black inventor.  Born in Maryland, John Albert Burr’s parents, John T. and Anna Wanger Burr, were slaves, but they were freed. Young Burr was a teenager during the American Civil War and worked as a fieldhand. His inventive talent was […]

Lloyd G. Wheeler, Businessman born

*Lloyd Wheeler, born on this date in 1848, was a Black attorney, businessman, philanthropist, and political leader.   Lloyd Garrison Wheeler was born in Mansfield, Ohio. His father was active in the Underground Railroad movement, providing secret accommodations for escaping slaves from the South en route to freedom in Canada. Due to the illegal status […]

Andrew J. Beard, Farmer, and Inventor born

*The birth of Andrew Beard in 1849 is celebrated on this date. He was a black farmer and inventor.

Wewoka, Oklahoma is Founded

*Wewoka, Oklahoma, is celebrated on this date in 1849. This city in Seminole County, Oklahoma, was founded by a Black Seminole, John Horse. In the spring of 1849, Horse and a group of Black Seminoles founded a settlement near modern-day Wewoka. Seeking safety and autonomy from the Creek Nation, they established a community at the falls […]

Joseph Lee, Inventor born

Joseph Lee’s birth in 1849 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American who invented machinery for processing food and became very prominent in the food industry.

William Washington Browne, Businessman, and Minister born

*William Washington Browne was born on this date in1849. He was a Black teacher, minister and businessman.

William Bonga, Fur Trader and Interpreter born

*The birth of William Bonga is celebrated on this date in 1850. He was a Black Ojibwe trader and interpreter. William Bonga grew up near the government establishment at Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota. His father, George Bonga, was superintendent of the government farm. He attended school there with his younger sister, Susie, while his older brother, James, […]

Cornelius Ford, Agribusiness Buyer born

*Cornelius Ford was born on this date in 1870. He was a Black Agribusiness buyer and community advocate.  Cornelius Evarts Ford was born in Jonesboro, Tennessee; his parents were Mark and Angeline Ford. He attended Warner Institute, an American Missionary School in Jonesboro. He paid for his schooling at Warner by caring for the buildings […]

Amanda Lyles, Businesswoman, and Socialite born

*Amanda Lyles’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1850. She was a Black socialite and businesswoman.   From Illinois, Amanda Lyles was one of the first women entrepreneurs in Minnesota. Around 1870, she met and married her husband, Thomas H. Lyles. They were involved in real estate, construction companies, loan agencies, and funeral parlors. […]

Sarah Goode, Inventor born

*Sarah Goode in 1850 is celebrated on this date.   She was a Black entrepreneur and inventor. She was born Sarah Elisabeth Jacobs in Toledo, Ohio, the same year as the Fugitive Slave Act was enacted.  She was the second of seven children of Oliver and Harriet Jacobs, both described in public records as Mulattos. Oliver Jacobs, a native of Indiana, was a […]

Edward P. McCabe, Land Agent born

*Edward McCabe was born on this date in 1850. He was a Black settler, attorney, and land agent. Edward P. McCabe was born in Troy, New York. As a child, he and his family moved from Troy to Fall River, Massachusetts, Newport, Rhode Island, and Bangor, Maine. When his father died, he left school and […]

Hobart Armstrong, Businessman born

*Hobart Armstrong was born on this date in 1851. He was a Black Miner, businessman, and small-town administrator. Born in Tennessee as a young man, Hobart A. Armstrong migrated to Iowa in the mid-1870s. After developing close business ties with the Iowa Central Coal Company, he set up his own business, purchasing mules for the […]

The ‘Voice of the Fugitive’ Newspaper is Published

The founding of the “Voice of the Fugitive” newspaper in 1851 is celebrated on this date.

It was the first Black Newspaper in Canada. Published every other Thursday just across the Canadian border from Detroit, this short-lived paper was the work of Henry C. Bibb. The paper was issued from 1851 to end of 1853. Published in the community of Sandwich (now Windsor, Ont.), The abolitionist newspaper promoted Canada as a destination for runaway slaves and as a vehicle to find other family members.