People, Locations, Episodes

The Dred Scott Case is Ruled

*On this date in 1857, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott Case. It is believed by many to have been a key cause of the American Civil War, and of the ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, leading to the end of slavery and the beginning of civil rights for freed African slaves.

Matilda McCrear, African Slave born

*The birth of Matilda McCrear in c1857 is affirmed on this date.  She was a Black African (Yoruba) woman who was enslaved and transported to America.   Matilda McCrear was captured by slave traders in West Africa when she was two years old and taken to the USA on the Clotilda, the last ship to transport enslaved Africans to […]

The Sugg/McDonald House, (California) is Built

*The Sugg/McDonald House is celebrated on this date in 1857. Located in Sonora, Tuolumne County, CA, it was built by a former Black slave, William Sugg. Sugg, a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, arrived in California, and it is not known how long he was enslaved in California. Francis Tate of Texas manumitted Sugg after […]

Quindaro, Kansas is Founded

*On this date, 1857, Quindaro Townsite, KS, was founded.  Quindaro was one of several competing small ports on the Missouri River and part of the conflict of American slavery’s expansion.  Quindaro was founded in the 1850s by abolitionists, settlers, Wyandots, and freedmen. Abelard Guthrie, credited as the founder who purchased land for the settlement, named it […]

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

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.