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, the son of a clergyman. At the age of nine, he enrolled at Uppsala University, beginning medical studies at fourteen and becoming one of the outstanding pupils of Linnaeus. In […]

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 was a free Black French woman. In 1765, at 17, he worked his passage […]

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.

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.

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 […]

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 was 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 categories […]

Robert Finley, Abolitionist born.

*The birth of Robert Finley 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 […]

John Jea, Writer and Abolitionist born

*The birth of John Jea 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 […]