People, Locations, Episodes

Fanny Kemble, Actress, and Abolitionist Writer born

Frances “Fanny” Kemble was born on this date in 1809. She was a White British actress, author, and abolitionist.

Frances Anne Kemble was a member of the famous Kemble theatrical family, and the oldest daughter of actor Charles Kemble and his actress wife Maria Theresa De Camp, and the niece of noted tragedienne Sarah Siddons. Fanny was born in London, and educated chiefly in France.

Archer Alexander, Laborer, and Sculptor Model born

*The birth of Archer Alexander is celebrated on this date in c. 1810. He was a former slave and laborer who served as the model for the emancipated slaves in the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C. He was the subject of an 1885 biography, The Story of Archer Alexander, written by William Greenleaf Eliot.  Archer Alexander was born a […]

Wendell Phillips, Abolitionist born

*Wendell Phillips was born on this date in 1811. He was a White American businessman and abolitionist.

Samuel Burris, Abolitionist born

*The birth of Samuel Burris in 1813 is remembered on this date. He was a black abolitionist and member of the Underground Railroad.

Jane Swisshelm, News Publisher and Abolitionist born.

Jane Cannon Swisshelm was born in on this date in 1815. She was a White American educator, publisher, and abolitionist.

She was born in Pittsburgh, PA.,and when she was eight, her father died. She helped her mother support the family by lace making and, at the age of 14, as a schoolteacher. In 1836, she married James Swisshelm and moved to Louisville, Kentucky. It was here that she became involved in the campaign against slavery and became a member of the Underground Railroad. In 1848, Swisshelm established her own anti-slavery newspaper, the Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter.

Henry Garnet, Abolitionist born

On this date in 1815, Henry H. Garnet was born. He was a Black theologian and abolitionist.

William C. Nell, Historian born

William Cooper Nell, a Black lecturer, journalist, and historian was born on this date in 1816.

He was born in Boston to William and Louise Cooper. A frequent reader of William Lloyd Garrison’s, “Liberator,” Nell joined the antislavery movement and began working for the Liberator newspaper in the 1840s. At many of the antislavery functions in Boston, he was Garrison’s personal representative. He became active in the Underground Railroad, until ill health forced him to withdraw.

The American Colonization Society is Founded

*The American Colonization Society (ACS) was founded on this date in 1816. Robert Finley established the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America, which was officially established at the Davis Hotel in Washington, D.C. The ACS supported the migration of free American Blacks back to Africa. From 1821 to 1822, the Society helped to find a colony on the Pepper […]

Thomas Higginson, Abolitionist born.

*On this date, in 1823, Thomas Higginson was born. He was a white-American Unitarian minister, author, abolitionist, and soldier.   Thomas Wentworth Higginson was born in Cambridge, MA. He entered Harvard College at age thirteen and was elected Phi Beta Kappa at sixteen. He graduated in 1841 and was a schoolmaster for two years. In 1842, he became engaged to Mary Elizabeth Channing. […]

Sarah Jane Early, Educator born

On this date in 1825, Sarah Jane Early was born. She was a Black teacher, abolitionist, and feminist.

Nat Turner is Hanged

On this date in 1831, Nat Turner was hanged in Jerusalem, Virginia. Turner, a slave and educated minister, believed that he was chosen by God to lead his people out of slavery. On August 21, 1831, he initiated his slave uprising by slaughtering Joseph Travis, his slave owner, and Travis’ family.

With seven followers, he set off across the countryside, hoping to rally hundreds of slaves to join his insurrection. Turner’s rebellion was the largest slave revolt in U.S. history and led to a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the movement, assembly, and education of slaves.

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

Laura Spelman Rockefeller, Abolitionist born

*Laura Spelman Rockefeller was born on this date in 1839. She was a white-American abolitionist, philanthropist, and schoolteacher.   Laura Celestia Spelman was born in Wadsworth, Ohio, to Puritan descendants Harvey Buell Spelman and Lucy Henry, Yankees who had moved to Ohio from Massachusetts. Her father was an abolitionist active in the Congregationalist Church, the Underground Railroad, and politics. Her family eventually moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Spelman had an elder adopted sister, Lucy […]

Sara Forbes Bonetta, Queen Victoria’s Goddaughter born.

*Sara Forbes Bonetta’s birth is celebrated on this date in c. 1843. She was Queen Victoria’s Black African goddaughter. Originally named Aina (or Ina), she was born in a Yoruba village in West Africa Nigeria, after its collapse to the Kingdom of Dahomey. In 1848, Oke-Odan was invaded and captured by the army of Dahomey. […]

The North Star Newspaper is Published

*On this date in 1847, The North Star newspaper began publication.  This was a nineteenth-century anti-slavery newspaper published by abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The North Star’s slogan was “Right is of no Sex, Truth is of no Color. God is the Father of us all, and all we are Brethren.”  Douglass was first inspired to publish […]