People, Locations, Episodes

Prince Hall, Preacher, and Mason born

*Prince Hall was born (circa) on this date in 1748. He was a Black preacher, administrator, mason, and businessman.   From Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies Prince Hall was born free. His father, Thomas Prince Hall, was a white Englishman, and his mother a free Black French woman. In 1765, at the age of 17, he worked […]

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 the age of 13, Cugoano was sold into slavery and transported to Grenada to […]

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, other assets before he died.  In August 1831, […]

Paul Cuffe, Merchant, and Philanthropist born

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

William Wilberforce, British Abolitionist born

William Wilberforce was born on this date in 1759. He was a White British 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.

José Morelos, Afro Mexican Abolitionist born

José Morelos y Pavyn was born on this date in 1765. He was an Afro Mexican priest, soldier, abolitionist, and an early leader of Mexico’s struggle for independence from Spain.

James Forten, Abolitionist, and Businessman born

*James Forten’s birth is marked on this date in 1766. He was a Black businessman and abolitionist.

Henri Christophe, Revolutionary, and Haitian King

On this date in 1767, Henri Christophe was born. He was a West African slave and became an early Black king of (Haiti).

Denmark Vesey, Slave 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.

Maria Remedios, Abolitionist born

*The birth of María Remedios. is celebrated on this date in c1768. She was an Afro Argentine abolitionist and soldier. María Remedios del Valle ca be born in Buenos Aires in the second half of the eighteenth century. The details of her parentage are unknown, but according to her military record, she was a parda or pardo, one of the […]

Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society 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, that is, […]

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

*The birth of Free Frank McWorter is celebrated on this date in 1777.  He was a Black slave, abolitionist, and businessman who bought his own 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 tradition, […]

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.