*The Dahomey Amazons are celebrated on this date in 1625. Also called Mino, or Minon, “our mothers”, they were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Western observers and historians named them due to their similarity to the mythical Amazons of ancient Anatolia and the Black Sea. King Houegbadja, the third King of Dahomey, is […]
learn more*The birth of Ganga Zumba is celebrated on this date in c 1630. He was the first leader of the vast escaped Afro Brazilian slave settlement of Quilombo dos Palmares, or Angola Janga, in the present-day Alagoas, Brazil. Ganga Zumba is said to have been the son of princess Aqualtune, the daughter of an unknown […]
learn more*On this date, in 1655, Johnson v. Parker was decided. This case involved the designation of indentured servitude and slavery. The Northampton County Court ruled in favor of Anthony Johnson, whose slave, John Casor, ran away and claimed to be an indentured servant. The court charged Johnson’s neighbor, Robert Parker, with having “most unjustly kept” […]
learn more*On this date in 1664, Maryland passed the first Anti amalgamation law. This law was intended to prevent marriages between Black men and English women.
learn more*The Castillo de San Marcos began construction on this date in 1672. Built with Black African and Native American slave labor, it is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Still standing, it is located on the western shore of Matanzas Bay in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. The city of St. Augustine was founded for the Spanish Crown in 1565 on the site […]
learn more*Louis de St. Denis was born on this date in 1676. He was a white-French Canadian soldier, slave owner, and explorer. Louis Antoine Juchereau de St. Denis was born in Beauport, New France (Quebec), the eleventh of the twelve children. His father was Nicolas Juchereau, Seigneur du Chesnay. His mother, Marie Thérèse Giffard de Beauport. […]
learn more*On this date, in 1688, the Registry shares an article on Abolitionists and the formal beginning of organized group Abolitionism in America. This movement sought to end slavery in the United States and was active both before and during the American Civil War. In the Americas and Western Europe, abolitionism was a movement that sought to end the Middle Passage (Atlantic […]
learn moreKingston Jamaica was founded on this date in 1692. It is the capital and chief port of Jamaica, an island nation in the West Indies. Kingston lies on the southeast coast of Jamaica, at the northern end of a nearly landlocked harbor.
learn moreOn this date we celebrate the birth of Abram Hannibal in 1697. He was an African slave who became a successfull general and military engineer in Russia.
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*The birth of Joseph Louis Cook is celebrated on this date in c 1737. He was a Black African Native American (Mohawk) American colonial leader. Joseph Louis Cook, or Akiatonharónkwen, was born in Quebec, Canada. He was the son of an African father and an Abenaki mother. He and his mother moved to a […]
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 descent and […]
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