People, Locations, Episodes

Anders Sparrman, Naturalist, and Abolitionist born

*Anders Sparrman was born on this date in 1748. He was a white Swedish naturalist, abolitionist, and apostle of Carl Linnaeus.  Sparrman was from Tensta, Uppland, and was the son of a clergyman. At nine, he enrolled at Uppsala University, beginning medical studies at fourteen and becoming one of the outstanding pupils of Linnaeus. In 1765, […]

Freeborn Garrettson, Minister born

*Freeborn Garrettson was born on this date in 1752. He was a white American preacher and abolitionist. Born in 1752 on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, near what is now known as Bush River Neck, Freeborn Garrettson was the third generation in his family to live there. The Garrettson family owned […]

Ottobah Cugoano, Philosopher born

*The birth of Ottobah Cugoano is celebrated on this date, c. 1757. He was a Black African abolitionist, author, anti-imperialist, and natural rights philosopher. He was born Quobna Ottobah Cugoano near Ajumako, in modern-day Ghana. He was a Fanti.   At 13, Cugoano was sold into slavery and transported to Grenada to work on an […]

Marie Bernard Couvent, Philanthropist born

*The birth of Marie Bernard Couvent is celebrated on this date in 1757.  She was a Black philanthropist and education advocate.  Born a slave in Benin, Africa, Marie Cirnaire came to New Orleans, Louisiana, and married Bernard Couvent, a carpenter and former slave.  Together, they accumulated property and other assets before he died.  In August […]

Paul Cuffee, Merchant, and Philanthropist born

*Paul Cuffe was born on this date in 1759. He was an Black philanthropist, merchant, sea captain and abolitionist.

Thomas Clarkson, Abolitionist born

*The birth of Thomas Clarkson in 1760 is celebrated on this date. He was a white-European abolitionist against slavery.

The Berbice Rebellion, a story

*The Berbice Rebellion began on this date in 1763. This was a year-long slave rebellion in Guyana that lasted into 1764. The Dutch colony of Berbice was owned by four Amsterdam merchants who founded the Society of Berbice as a public company listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. The colony was unsuccessful compared to other […]

John Clarkson Jr, Soldier and Abolitionist born

*John Clarkson Jr. was born on this date in 1764. He was a white European Royal Navy officer and abolitionist. John Clarkson was born in Wisbech. His father was headmaster of Wisbech Grammar School. After his father’s death, the family lived in the town. In 1777, aged 13, he entered the Royal Navy and served […]

Denmark Vesey, Slavery Revolutionary born

This date celebrates the life of Denmark Vesey in 1767. He was a Black abolitionist who planned the most extensive slave revolt in U.S. history, in Charleston, S.C. in 1822.

Born in St. Thomas, the Danish West Indies, he was sold in 1781 to a Bermuda slave captain named Joseph Vesey. Young Denmark, who was self-educated assumed his master’s surname, accompanied him on numerous voyages and in 1783 settled with his owner in Charleston.

Robert Finley, Abolitionist born.

*Robert Finley’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1772. He was a white-American Presbyterian clergyman, abolitionist, and educator. Finley was born in Princeton, New Jersey, to James Finley and his wife, Ann Angrest. His father immigrated from Scotland to New Jersey in 1769. His paternal grandparents were James Finley from Paisley and Ann McDonald Finley. […]

John Jea, Writer and Abolitionist born

*John Jea’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1773. He was a Black writer, preacher, abolitionist, and sailor. Little is known about John Jea’s life apart from what he wrote in his autobiography, The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher (1811). Jea said that he was born near Calabar in the Bight […]

The Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society is Formed

*The Pennsylvania Abolition (or Abolitionist) Society (PAS) was founded on this date in 1775. It was also known as The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage.    PAS was the first American abolition society. It was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and held four meetings. Seventeen of the 24 men who attended initial meetings of the Society were Quakers, […]

Gabriel Prosser, Abolitionist born

The birth of Gabriel Prosser in 1776 is remembered on this date. He was a Black abolitionist.

A slave child, Gabriel was born to the family owned by Thomas Henry Prosser of the Brookfield Plantation in Henrico County, Virginia. Viewed as a “man of courage and intellect above his rank and life,” Prosser was a imposing figure. He was dark-skinned and stood 6 feet, 2 or 3 inches tall. He had lost two front teeth and his head was scarred. Unlike many slaves, he had been educated in his youth, and became a blacksmith, which gave him access to life beyond the plantation.

Frank McWorter, Abolitionist born.

*This date in 1777 is celebrated as the birth date of Free Frank McWorter. He was a Black slave, abolitionist, and businessman who bought his freedom.   Frank McWorter was born into slavery in South Carolina to Juda, a Black West African woman abducted into slavery and transported to the colony. His father was her white master, George McWhorter, a Scots-Irish planter. According to family […]

James Tallmadge, Abolitionist born

*James Tallmadge, Jr. was born on this date 1778. He was a White American politician and abolitionist.

Born in Stanford, Dutchess County, New York, he graduated from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island in 1798, and was secretary to Governor George Clinton from 1798 to 1800. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1802, after which he practiced in Poughkeepsie and in New York City. He served in the War of 1812 and commanded a company of home guards in defense of New York.