People, Locations, Episodes

The Black Guard of Morocco, a story

*The Black Guard is affirmed on this date in 1699. They were the corps of Black African slaves and slave soldiers assembled by the ‘Alawi sultan of Morocco, Isma’il ibn Sharif. Isma’il ruled for 55 years between 1672 and 1727, one of the longest reigns in Moroccan history. He distinguished himself as a ruler who wished […]

John Witherspoon, Slave Owner, and Minister born

*John Witherspoon was born on this date in 1723.  He was a white-Scottish American slave owner, a Presbyterian minister, and a Founding Father of the United States. John Witherspoon was born in Beith, North Ayrshire, Scotland, as the eldest child of the Reverend James Alexander Witherspoon and Anne Walker, a descendant of John Welsh of […]

George Middleton, Patriot born

*On this date, we celebrate the birth of George Middleton in c 1735.  He was a Black patriot, Freemason, and colonial rights activist.   Very little is known of his childhood and family. He was an early member of the African Lodge, later known as the Prince Hall Masons, and he was the third Grand Master of that group. Middleton […]

Prince Estabrook, Patriot born

*The birth of Prince Estabrook is celebrated on this date in 1741. He was a Black slave and Minutemen Private Patriot. Born in Ashby, Massachusetts, he belonged to the family of Benjamin Estabrook, from whom he took his last name. He enlisted in the Lexington Militia in 1773.  On April 19, 1775, he was one […]

Thomas Jefferson, Politician, and Slave Owner born

*Thomas Jefferson was born on this date in 1743. He was a white-American slave owner, diplomat, lawyer, architect, politician, and Founding Father of the United States of America.   Part of the First Families of Virginia (FFV), he was born at the family home in Shadwell in the (then) Colony of Virginia, where he was the third of ten children. He was of English […]

Barzillai Lew, Colonial Soldier born

*Barzillai Lew was born on this date in 1743. He was a Black soldier and musician. Barzillai Lew was born a free Black in Groton, Massachusetts. His father, Primus Lew, and Margret Lew were married in 1742. As free Blacks, they had two sons and two daughters. Primus was a musician in the French and […]

Sophie Charlotte, Black Queen of England born

*Princess Sophie Charlotte was born on this date in 1744. She was the second Black Queen of England.

Richard Pierpoint, Soldier born

*The birth of Richard Pierpoint is celebrated on this date in c. 1744. Also known as Black Dick, Captain Dick, Captain Pierpoint was a Black British soldier. Richard Pierpoint was born in Bundu, what is now Senegal.  When he was about sixteen, he was captured and sold as a slave. He survived the crossing of the Atlantic and was sold to a […]

Benjamin Rush, Diplomat born

*Benjamin Rush was born on this date in 1746. He was a white-American abolitionist, physician, and diplomat. His interpretation of white privilege of race has raised many ethical questions.   The fourth of John and Susanna (Hall) Rush’s seven children, he was raised and spent most of his life in Philadelphia. His mother, a Presbyterian, first […]

Wentworth Cheswell, Businessman born

Wentworth Cheswell was born on this date in 1746. He was a Black businessman and politician.

From Newmarket, NH Cheswell was the only child of Hopestill and Catherine Keniston Cheswell. There is virtually no information about Catherine Keniston in Newmarket town records. However, the various local historians and genealogists generally accept that she came from a local Newmarket/Durham family, and that she was white. Like his father before him, Wentworth Cheswell was born to a white mother.

Peter Salem, American Patriot born

The birth of Peter Salem in 1750 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black soldier and patriot.

Though Salem’s birth year is not certain, he was born a slave in Framingham, MA. His owner, Jeremiah Belknap, named him after his hometown of Salem, MA. In America’s early years, Massachusetts, monitoring an insurrection by Blacks, made it illegal for them to serve in the military. When the need for soldiers increased during the French and Indian Wars, Blacks were pressed into military duty. In mid-1775, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety recruited only free Blacks.

Salem Poor, American Patriot born

The birth of Salem Poor around 1750 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black patriot during the Revolutionary War.

Poor was a free Negro in Andover, MA. He left his wife when he went off to war to fight for the American Revolution. He enlisted under Captain Benjamin Ames in Colonel Fryes’ regiment. He fought at Bunker Hill and is credited with shooting down British Lieutenant Colonel James Abercrombie.

Alexander Hamilton, Slaveowner and Statesman born

*Alexander Hamilton was born on this date in 1755. He was a white-American American revolutionary, slave owner, statesman, and Founding Father of the United States. Alexander Hamilton was born out of wedlock in Charlestown, Nevis, West Indies. He was orphaned as a child and taken in by a prosperous merchant. Hamilton spent his teenage years working […]

Primus Hall, Soldier, and School Master born

*Primus Hall was born on this date in 1756. He was a soldier and schoolmaster. He was born into slavery in Boston to Prince and Delia Hall, a domestic servant and an enslaved man owned by William Hall until his freedom in 1770. His father, Prince Hall, was an abolitionist, Revolutionary War soldier, and founder of […]

Jean Dessalines, Haitian Leader born

*Jean-Jacques Dessalines was born on this date in 1758.  He was a Black Haitian soldier, leader of the Haitian Revolution, and the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1805 constitution.   Taking the last name of the owner who owned his mother then, Jean-Jacques Duclos was born into slavery on Cormier, a plantation near Grande-Riviere-du-Nord.  His father had adopted the surname from his owner, Henri Duclose. The […]