People, Locations, Episodes

Black History, and the Boston Massacre, a story

*This is the date of the Boston Massacre in 1770. That evening Crispus Attucks, a free Black man, was the first person to die for America’s independence; here’s what happened.

Alexandre Pétion, Soldier, and Politician born

*On this date in 1770, Alexandre Pétion was born. He was a Black politician, soldier, and the first President of the Republic of Haiti from 1807 until his death. Alexandre Sabès Pétion was born “Anne Alexandre Sabès” in Port-au-Prince. His father was Pascal Sabès, a wealthy white French father, and Ursula, a free mulatto woman. Like other […]

Fort Ticonderoga is Captured

On this date in 1775, Black patriots helped capture Fort Ticonderoga.

Blacks participated in one of the first aggressive actions of American forces in the prelude to the Revolutionary War.

Ethan Allen, the Green Mountain Boys, and numerous Black patriots captured Fort Ticonderoga. This incident took the British in New York by surprise and defeated them.

Black History, and the Battle of Bunker Hill, a story

On this date in 1775, several Blacks participated in the famous, but misnamed, Battle of Bunker Hill.

This episode in the Revolutionary War actually took place on Breed’s Hill, across the river from Boston, Massachusetts. More Blacks than had previously been thought fought with the colonial troops, according to a Revolutionary War historian, who says that 103 Blacks and Native Americans fought with the colonial force. Among them were Salem Poor, Peter Salem, Caesar Brown, Prince Estabrook, Grant Cooper, Prince Hall, and George Middleton.

Black Loyalist in Colonial America, a story

*Black Loyalists are celebrated on this date in 1775. They were African slaves who sided and fought with the British during the American Revolutionary War. They escaped the enslavement of Patriot masters and served on the Loyalist side because the Crown promised freedom. In November 1775, Lord Dunmore issued the controversial Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation. As […]

Blacks Are Barred From The Continental Army

On this date in 1775, the Continental Congress of the United States issued the order to bar Blacks from the army.

Jean-Pierre Boyer, Haitian Politician born

*Jean-Pierre Boyer was born on this date in 1776. He was a Black soldier and politician. Jean-Pierre Boyer was born in Port-au-Prince and was the mulatto son of a French tailor and an African mother, a former slave from Congo. He was sent to France by his father to become educated. During the French Revolution, he fought […]

John F. Webber, Soldier, and Abolitionist born

*John Webber’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1786. He was a white-American soldier and abolitionist. John Ferdinand Webber was born in Vermont, the son of John Webber and Hannah Morrill.  As a soldier in the War of 1812, he served as a private in Capt. S. Dickinson’s company. He was in the thirty-first […]

Pedro Camejo, Soldier born

*Pedro Camejo was born on this date in 1790. Also known as Negro Primero (“The First Black”), he was an Afro Venezuelan soldier and abolitionist. Pedro Camejo was born a slave of a Spanish royalist, Vincente Alonzo, in San Juan de Payara. He gained his freedom in 1816 after enlisting in the military to fight in […]

Lorenzo Barcala, Military Commander born

*Lorenzo Barcala was born on this date in 1793. He was an Afro Argentine military commander who participated in the Argentine civil wars on the side of the Unitarian Party. He was one of the few Black soldiers to reach the rank of colonel in that country. The son of slaves from Mendoza, Argentina, he […]

Lawrence Taliaferro, Soldier and Slave Owner born

*Lawrence Taliaferro was born on this date in 1794. He was a white-American Army officer, Indian agent, and enslaver. Lawrence Taliaferro was born at Whitehall Plantation in King George County, Virginia, to James Garnett Taliaferro and his wife Wilhelmina (Wishart) Taliaferro. During the War of 1812, he enlisted at age 18 as a volunteer in […]

Thomas Peters; Canadian Soldier, and Abolitionist born

*This date in 1738 is celebrated as the birth date of Thomas Peters. He was a Black abolitionist and soldier fighting for the British in the American Revolutionary War. He was born in West Africa to the Yoruba tribe, the Egba clan. In 1760, at twenty-two years old, he was captured by slave traders, sold as a […]

Charles Trowbridge, Military Officer born

*Charles Trowbridge was born on this date in 1835. He was a White American soldier, abolitionist, and politician.

Charles Tyler Trowbridge was from Morristown, New Jersey in an area known as Trowbridge Mountain. He was third of seven children born to Elijah Freeman Trowbridge and Temperance Ludlow Muchmore. His family moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1854. In 1857 he married Emeline Haviland Jackson at Freehold, New Jersey. They had one child, Ida Emeline Trowbridge who died in 1858.

Hendrick Arnold, Military Scout, born

This date, 1804, is celebrated as the birth date of Hendrick Arnold, a Black military scout, guide, and spy during the Texas Revolution. Hendrick Arnold emigrated from Mississippi or Kentucky to Texas with his parents, Daniel Arnold, a white man, and Rachel, who was black, in the winter of 1826. The family settled in Stephen […]

Louis Goldsborough, Admiral born

*Louis Goldsborough was born on this date in 1805. He was a white-American rear admiral in the United States Navy noted for his contributions to nautical scientific research.   Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough was born in Washington, D.C., the son of a chief clerk at the United States Department of the Navy. He was appointed midshipman in the United […]