People, Locations, Episodes

Jonathan Wright, Lawyer, and Politician born

*On this date in 1809, Jonathan Jasper Wright was born. He was an Black lawyer and politician.

Wright attended Lancaster University. Upon completing his legal studies, he attempted to stand the Pennsylvania bar, but it wasn’t allowed, presumably because of his race. Wright accepted a position in Beaufort to open a school and teach the newly freed slaves. In addition to teaching school, he taught the Black citizens of the community. He lectured every Thursday evening on legal and political matters. He gave legal advice, particularly on labor relations.

George Ashburn, Judge born.

*George Ashburn was born on this date in 1814. He was a 19th-century white white-American judge, Radical Republican, and Senate candidate. George W. Ashburn was born in North Carolina and moved to Georgia around 1830. He married Georgia Ryley in 1843. They had one daughter. He opposed the Secession of Georgia. During the American Civil War, he […]

Benjamin Ignatius Hayes, Lawyer, and Judge born

*Benjamin Hayes was born on this date in 1815. He was a white-American pioneer, lawyer, and judge. Benjamin Ignatius Hayes was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated from St. Mary’s University. On November 16th, 1848, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Emily Martha Chauncey of Harford County, Maryland, and in 1849, he “set out from Independence, […]

Miguel de Castro v. Ninety-five enslaved Africans is Decided

On this date in 1819, Miguel de Castro v. Ninety-five enslaved Africans was decided. This was a Libel case for restitution against American chattel slavery. In October 1817, ninety-five enslaved Africans were taken by pirates from the Portuguese ship “Jesu Nasareno,” owned by Miguel de Castro. Originally bound for Havana, Cuba, the Africans were brought […]

The Missouri Compromise Is Ratified

*The Missouri Compromise with legislative measures was enacted on this date in 1820. This measure allowed The United States Congress to thus regulate the extension of slavery in the United States for the next three decades.

Harriet Robinson Scott, Abolitionist born

*The birth of Harriet Robinson Scott is celebrated on this date in c. 1820. She was a Black domestic and an abolitionist who fought for her freedom alongside her husband, Dred Scott. Born into slavery, Harriet Robinson was brought from Pennsylvania to the Northwest Territory by Indian agent and slaveholder Lawrence Taliaferro in 1835. Around […]

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 […]

George Boyer Vashon, Lawyer and Abolitionist born.

*George Boyer Vashon was born on this date in 1824.  He was a Black educator, lawyer and abolitionist.

From Carlile, Pennsylvania, he was the son of John Baton Vashon, a mulatto, and Anne Vashon. George’s father, John Bathan Vashon, was a well respected leader in Pittsburgh’s Black community, a businessman, and an abolitionist.  Vashon’s father was also instrumental in establishing the first school for Blacks in Pittsburgh.  He attended his father’s private school until 1837, then a public school where he displayed an aptitude for languages.

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.

Edward Walker, Lawyer born

*Edward Walker’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1830. He was a Black artisan and attorney.   Edward Garrison Walker was the son of Eliza and David Walker, an abolitionist who wrote an appeal in 1829 calling for the end of slavery. Born in Edgefield, SC, he received training in working with leather as a young man. […]

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. […]