People, Locations, Episodes

Pierce Butler, Farmer and Slave Owner born

*Pierce Butler was born on this date in 1744. He was a white Irish American rice planter, slaveholder, politician, and military officer during the Antebellum South. Butler was born in Garryhundon, County Carlow, Ireland, into the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy. He was an Anglican until after the American Revolution, when he became a member of the Episcopal […]

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.

Prince Hall, Preacher, and Mason born

*Prince Hall was born (circa) on this date in 1748. He was an Afro Barbadian preacher, administrator, mason, and businessman.   Prince Hall was born free in Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies. 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 […]

Hercules Posey, Slave and Chef born

*This date in 1748 is celebrated as the birth date of Hercules Posey, an enslaved African owned by George Washington. He was born around 1748 and owned by America’s first president as collateral for an unpaid loan to his original owner, Washington’s neighbor John Posey. “Uncle Harkless,” as George Washington Parke Custis called him, was […]

The Whitney Plantation is Built

*On this date in 1752, the Whitney Plantation is affirmed. It is located in Wallace, Louisiana, one of the estimated 46,200 American plantations in 1860. The plantation was started by white German immigrants Ambroise Haydel and his wife, and their descendants owned it until 1867. The French Creole-raised-style main house, built in 1803, is the […]

The African Company of Merchants is Formed

*The founding of the African Company of Merchants is affirmed on this date in 1752. This was a British-chartered slave trading company operating from 1752 to 1821 in the Gold Coast area of modern Ghana. The indigenous Fante people dominated this coastal area. The company was established by the African Company Acts of 1750 and 1752 […]

Joseph Brant, Indigenous Slave Owner, and Military Officer born

*Joseph Brant was born on this date in 1743. He was a Native American Mohawk chief, a Christian missionary, an African slave trader, and a British military officer.   Brant was born near the Ohio River and given the Indian name of Thayendanegea, meaning “he places two bets.” He inherited the status of Mohawk chief from […]

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 […]

Thomas Walker, Slave Trader born

*The birth of Thomas Walker is affirmed on this date in 1758. He was a white British slave trader. He is the ancestor of two U.S. presidents, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. Thomas Walker was born in Henbury, now a suburb of Bristol, England. Also known as Beau, Walker worked when Bristol […]

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.

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 […]

Sir John Gladstone, 1st Baronet, Slave Owner and Politican born.

*Sir John Gladstone, 1st Baronet, was born on this date in 1764. He was a white Scottish merchant, slave owner, and politician. Born John Gladstones on King Street in Leith, north of Edinburgh, Scotland, he was the eldest son of the merchant Thomas Gladstones and his wife, Helen Neilson. He was the second of the […]

Pierre Toussaint, Businessman, and Philanthropist born

*Pierre Toussaint was born on this date in 1766. He was Haitian immigrant to America, businessman and philanthropist.

Pierre Bonga, Fur Trapper, and Interpreter, born

*Pierre Bonga’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1770. He was a Black trapper and interpreter. Born in Michigan, he was the son of Jean and Marie-Jeanne Bonga, an enslaved couple. Their family was brought to Mackinac Island in 1782 by their British master, Captain Daniel Robertson. His master took over command of Fort […]

Anthony D. Allen, Mariner born

*Anthony D. Allen was born on this date in 1772.   He was a Black mariner and businessman.  From Schenectady, New York, he was owned by the Dougal family, his mother was their slave, and his father was a freeman and a mariner.   As a young man, he developed medical skills in Schenectady, where ill or […]