People, Locations, Episodes

Mifflin Gibbs, Businessman, and Abolitionist born

On this date in 1823, Mifflin Gibbs was born. He was a Black entrepreneur, lawyer, and abolitionist.

From Philadelphia, Mifflin Wister Gibbs was born free and attended grade school until his father died in 1831. To help his mother and three siblings, he drove a doctors carriage prior to becoming a carpenter’s apprentice at the age of sixteen. Throughout this time in his life he was a member of the Philomathean Institute, a Colored men’s literacy society and he was active in the Underground Railroad.

Robert Morris, Lawyer, and Abolitionist born

*Robert Morris was born on this date in 1823. He was a Lawyer, abolitionist, and one of the first Black attorneys in the United States.   Morris was born in Salem, Massachusetts. At the age of 15, Morris went to work as a household servant for the abolitionist lawyer Ellis Gray Loring. When Loring’s white copyist neglected his duties. Impressed with […]

Alexander G. Clark, Iowa Lawyer born

*Alexander G. Clark was born on this date in 1826. He was a Black laborer, barber, lawyer and activist.

He was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, to John Clark, a former slave, and Rebecca Darnes Clark. At 13, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to learn barbering from an uncle, who also made sure the boy was well-schooled in other areas. Clark left Cincinnati in October 1841, working for a few months as a bartender on the steamboat George Washington before arriving, at 16, in Muscatine (then called Bloomington, in Iowa Territory). It was May 22, 1842.

Charles E. Vanderburgh, Judge born

*Charles Vanderburgh was born on this date in 1829. He was a white American lawyer, abolitionist and judge.

Born in Saratoga County, New York, Charles Edwin Vanderburgh graduated from Yale University in 1852. He taught school and studied law in Oxford, New York. In 1856, Vanderburgh moved to Minnesota Territory and practiced law in Minneapolis. In 1859, elected District Judge, Fourth Judicial District.

America’s ‘Black Codes,’ a definition

*On this date in 1832, we acknowledge Black Codes in the United States. Sometimes called Black Laws, Black Codes were (are) laws governing the conduct of Black people during slavery and after emancipation. Southern states passed the best example in 1865 and 1866 after the American Civil War to restrict African Americans’ freedom and require them to work for low […]

Thomas Chester, Lawyer, and Politician born

On this date we mark the birth of Thomas Chester in 1834, in Harrisburg, PA. He was an Black lawyer and editor.

Thomas Morris Chester was the son of a slave woman who had escaped from Baltimore in 1825 and thus her son was born free. His father was an oyster salesman and restaurant owner who was part of the inner circle of political and social functions of Harrisburg. Educated at Allegheny Institute, Chester became an abolitionist and colonizationist.

George Ruffin, Businessman born

*George Ruffin was born on this date in 1834. He was a Black business owner, attorney, and judge.  George Lewis Ruffin was from Richmond, Virginia, the son of free Blacks.  He was educated in Boston, Massachusetts, and soon became a force in the city’s civic leadership. After marrying Josephine St. Pierre, Ruffin supported his family by working as a barber. […]

The Slave Compensation Act Becomes Law

*The Slave Compensation Act 1837 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom, signed into law on December 23, 1837. Together with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, it authorized the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt to compensate slave owners in the British colonies of approximately £20 million for the freeing of […]

Albion Tourgee, Judge born

Albion Tourgee was born on this date in 1838. He was a White American activist, judge, and author.

The Ashworth Act is Passed

*The Ashworth Act was passed on this date in 1840. The Texas Senate passed this legislation. It exempted the Ashworth Family, freedmen, and formerly enslaved people in the Republic of Texas from a new law stipulating that all Black Texans either leave or be enslaved. The Ashworths were Portuguese North Africans. They migrated from South Carolina and […]

The United States v. Schooner Amistad is Decided.

*On this date, 1841, United States v. Schooner Amistad, 40 U.S. (15 Pet.) 518 (1841), was decided.  This was a United States Supreme Court case resulting from the rebellion of Africans on board the Spanish schooner La Amistad in 1839.  It was an unusual freedom suit that involved international issues, parties, and United States law. The case was the most important court case involving slavery […]

Pierre Landry, Lawyer born

*On this date we recognize the birth of Pierre Landry, a Black editor, chef, politician, and lawyer, born in 1841.

He was the slave son of his owner, born in Donaldsonville, LA As a young boy, he lived with a local free Black couple, attended a school for free Blacks on his father/owner’s plantation, and learned the skills to become a chef. Upon the death of his owner in 1854, Landry was sold as part of a disposition of the estate. With his new owner, he served as property superintendent, pastry chef, and plantation store manager.

Prigg v. Pennsylvania is Decided

*On this date in 1842, Prigg v. Pennsylvania was decided. This was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the federal Fugitive Slave Act (1793) precluded a Pennsylvania state law that prohibited Blacks from being taken from the free state of Pennsylvania into slavery. The Court overturned the conviction of slavecatcher Edward Prigg as a result.   Occurring under the presidency […]

Richard Greener, Legal, and Political Advisor born

*Richard Theodore Greener was born on this date in 1844. He was an African American administrator, politician, lawyer, and educator.

From Philadelphia, when Greener was about nine, his father left the family to pursue mining opportunities in California. Tragically, his father was presumed dead after efforts to locate him failed. His mother moved the family to Boston, then to Cambridge in search of educational opportunities for her son. Greener received his early education at the Broadway Grammar School until he was about 14, when he quit to support his mother.

Moorfield Storey, Lawyer, and Activist born

*Moorfield Storey was born on this date in 1845.   He was a white-American lawyer, anti-imperial activist, and civil rights leader.   Moorfield Storey was born in 1845 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. His family descended from the earliest Puritan settlers in New England and had close connections with the abolitionist movement. His father was a Boston lawyer. Young Storey attended the Boston […]