People, Locations, Episodes

The First National Negro Convention Meets

*On this date in 1830, the first National Negro Convention met in Philadelphia, PA. This group gathered for the express purpose of abolishing slavery and improving the status of African Americans.

Mary Dickerson, Businesswoman, and Club Woman born

*Mary Dickerson was born on this date in 1830. She was a Black businesswoman and clubwoman. Mary H. Dickerson was born in Haddam, Connecticut, and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. Around 1865, Dickerson and her husband, Silas, moved to Newport, Rhode Island. In the early 1870s, she opened a dressmaking shop on Bellevue Avenue. […]

The Liberator Newspaper Begins Circulation

*It was on the first day of January 1831 in Boston that William Lloyd Garrison published The Liberator newspaper, the official periodical of the antislavery movement.

Eliza Ann Gardner, Religious Leader born

*Eliza Ann Gardner was born on this date in 1831. She was a Black abolitionist, religious leader, and women’s movement leader. Eliza Ann Gardner was born to James and Eliza Gardner in New York City. As a child, she moved with her family to Boston, where her father had a successful career as a shipping contractor. […]

The Female Literary Association is Formed

*The Female Literary Association (FLA) was formed on this date in 1831. It was a formal space where Black women exchanged knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and beliefs and prepared for a public role in abolition and community circles. This association was started in Philadelphia, PA., by Sarah Mapps Douglas, who pushed back against political, racial, or social contexts; […]

The New England Anti-Slavery Society is Founded

*On this date in 1832 the New England Anti-Slavery Society was founded.

Originated in Boston, its preamble stated:

Joanna P. Moore, Missionary born

*Joanna Moore was born on this date in 1832.  She was a white-American Baptist missionary. Born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, Joanna Patterson Moore went to Island Number Ten in the Mississippi River in November 1863 to work with around 1,000 Black women and children who had gone there seeking protection from the Union Army during the American Civil War. She […]

Emily Goodridge Grey, Abolitionist born

*The birth of Emily Goodridge Grey is celebrated on this date in 1833.  She was a Black homemaker, writer, and abolitionist sympathizer.  Born in York, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of William and Emily Goodridge; she had three brothers, William, Glenavon, and Wallace, and one sister Susan.  Her father, a former slave, work with the […]

Erastus Cravath, Abolitionist born

*Erastus Cravath was born on this date in 1833. He was a White American abolitionist, educator, chaplin and administrator.

William H. Johnson, Abolitionist born

*The birth of William Henry Johnson in 1833 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black Abolitionist, politician and crusader for the rights of Blacks.

The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society is Founded

The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society was founded on this date in 1833. This was an abolitionist group that also championed racial and sexual equity.

The society’s first meeting took place in Catherine McDermot’s schoolroom in Philadelphia. The constitution they adopted set forth their firm belief that slavery and prejudice were contrary to the laws of God and the Declaration of Independence. During the 1830s, 40s, and 50s, anti-slavery societies sprang up in cities across the North. Of the 42 women who became the society’s charter members, nine were Black. They were

Henry M. Turner, Minister, and Nationalist born

*Henry McNeal Turner was born on this date in 1834. He was a Black Nationalist, Repatriations advocate, and Minister.

From near Abbeville, South Carolina, born of free parents, McNeal was ordained a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1853 and became a Bishop in 1880. In 1863, he became the first Black army chaplain and he was the president of Morris Brown College for twelve years. Turner was a leading advocate of Black repatriations. In 1867, the American Colonization Society elected him as their president and he made several trips abroad on their behalf.

Anthony Burns, Preacher, and Fugitive Slave born

*Anthony Burns was born on this date in 1834. He was a Black Preacher and fugitive slave. Anthony Burns was born enslaved in Stafford County, Virginia. His mother, also enslaved by John Suttle, died shortly after his birth. His mother was a cook for the Suttle family and had 13 children, with him as her […]

John Anthony Copeland, Abolitionist born

*John Anthony Copeland was born on this date in 1834.  He was a free Black carpenter and abolitionist.  John Anthony Copeland Jr. was born in Raleigh, North Carolina; his parents were John Anthony Copeland, a slave, and Delilah Evans, born a free Black.  Copeland Sr. was emancipated as a boy in about 1815. As a […]

Isaac Myers, Labor Union Administrator born

*Isaac Myers was born on this date in 1835. He was a pioneering Black trade unionist, a cooperative organizer, and a caulker. Myers was born free in Baltimore, though Maryland was a slave state. Since the state of Maryland did not offer public education for Black youth, Myers had to acquire his early education from […]