People, Locations, Episodes

The African Civilization Society is Formed

*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 […]

A Black Slave Is Freed In A California Court Room

*On this date in 1858, a Black man, Archy Lee, was freed in California. Archy Lee was a Black slave in Mississippi owned by his white-American owner, Charles Stovall. Stovall brought Lee to Sacramento, California, on October 2, 1857. While in California, Stovall rented out Lee for his wages. In January 1858, when Stovall decided […]

The Commodore (Ship) Arrives in Vancouver, Canada

*On this date, in 1858, the Commodore arrived from San Francisco. Among the 400 or 500 Emigrants were 35 black men of different trades and callings, chiefly intending to settle here. They were congregants of the First A.M.E. Zion Church of San Francisco. On Monday (the following day), while drinking tea at Mrs. Blinkhorn’s with […]

The Oberlin Wellington Rescue Episode Occurs

*On this date in 1858, the Oberlin Wellington Rescue occurred. Taking place in Lorain County, Ohio, this was a key episode in the history of the abolitionist movement in the United States.

‘The Weeping Time’ Episode Occurs

*On this date in 1859, “the weeping time” of slavery occurred in African American heritage. This was the largest sale of human beings in the history in the United States.

The Africa Squadron Is Created

*On this date in 1859, the Africa Squadron was created. The Squadron Unit was an outgrowth of the 1819 treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom, which was an early step in suppressing the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. It was further paralleled by the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842. Although technically coordinated with a British […]

The First Novel by a Black Author is Published in America

On this date in 1859, the first novel by an African American was published in the United States.

“Our Nig; or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, In a Two Story White House North, Showing that Slavery’s Shadow Falls Even There,” by Harriet E. Adams Wilson, was published in Boston. She was living alone at the time of the writing, having been abandoned by her husband.

The novel was lost for over 100 years until reprinted with a critical essay by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., in 1983.

The Raid on Harpers Ferry (Virginia) Begins

On this date in 1859, abolitionist John Brown, who was white, and a group of his followers raided the Harpers Ferry Virginia arsenal.

This was a crucial turning point in the movement that led to the American Civil War and the legal end to African slavery in the United States. Brown planned that he and his men would establish a base in the Blue Ridge Mountains from which they would help runaway slaves and launch attacks on slaveholders. This plan had been described to potential funders two years earlier.

Harpers Ferry Conspirators Are Hanged

On 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.”

Tanner’s Alley, (Harrisburg, PA.), a story

*Harrisburg, PA, was chartered on March 19, 1860. This date is used because this city is home to Tanner’s Alley, a section of Harrisburg that played a part in the abolition movement during American slavery. Settled around 1719, the city was a stop on the Underground Railroad, where runaway slaves were fed and clothed on […]

The Rankin House (Underground Railroad Stop) a story

This date in 1787 recalls the Rankin House, a pivotal point of shelter for many Black slaves escaping bondage before emancipation.

Fort Greene, New York City, a story

*Fort Greene, NYC, is celebrated on this date in 1860. This diverse neighborhood is in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.   As of 2010, the racial makeup of the neighborhood was 27.9% (7,289) White, 42.5% (11,081) African American, 0.3% (67) Native American, 7.3% (1,897) Asian, 0.0% (7) Pacific Islander, […]

The Slave Ship Clotilda Arrives In Alabama

*On this date in 1860, the last American slave ship (on record) docked in Mobile, Alabama. Called the Clotilda, the ship was a two-massed schooner, 86 feet (26 m) long with a beam of 23 feet. (7.0 m).  The ship arrived at Mobile Bay with 110-160 Black captives from Africa to the United States.  The […]

The Confederate States of America is Formed

*On this date, 1861, the Confederate States of America was formed. Commonly referred to as the Confederacy, it was an unrecognized republic in North America that existed from 1861 to 1865.  The Confederacy was originally formed by seven secessionist slave-holding states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas in the Lower Antebellum South region.   Their economy depended heavily on agriculture, mainly cotton, and a plantation system that relied upon the labor […]

The Emancipation Reform of Russia is Enacted

*The Emancipation Reform of Russia, also known as the Edict of Emancipation of Russia, was enacted on this date in 1861. It was the first and most crucial liberal reform enacted during the reign of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. The reform effectively abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire. The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto proclaimed the […]