People, Locations, Episodes

Prudence Crandall, Educator, and Abolitionist born

*Prudence Crandall was born on this date in 1803. She was a White American abolitionist.

Hiram Wilson, Abolitionist born.

*Hiram Wilson was born on this date in 1803. He was a white-American anti-slavery abolitionist. Hiram Wilson, the son of Polly McCoy and John Wilson, was born in Acworth, New Hampshire. He attended the Oneida Institute in upstate New York, which was at that time the most abolitionist school in the country. He attended a […]

Theodore Weld, Abolitionist, and Writer born

*Theodore Weld was born on this date in 1803. He was a white-American writer, editor, speaker, and organizer. He was an early architect of the American abolitionist movement during its formative years from 1830 through 1844.   Born in Hampton, Connecticut, Theodore Dwight Weld was the son of Congregational ministers Ludovicus Weld and Elizabeth Clark Weld. His brother, Ezra Greenleaf Weld, […]

The African Meeting House (Boston) is Founded

*On this date, in 1805, the African Meeting House was founded. Also known as the First African Baptist Church, First Independent Baptist Church, and the Belknap Street Church, it is now the oldest Black church edifice still standing in the United States. Before 1805, although Black Bostonians could attend white churches, they generally faced discrimination. […]

Maria Chapman, Abolitionist born

Maria Weston Chapman was born on this date in 1806. She was a White American abolitionist.

Sarah M. Douglass, Writer, and Teacher born

The birth of Sarah Mapps Douglass in 1806 is marked on this date. She was a Black educator and abolitionist.

Born in Philadelphia, Douglass was the daughter of Robert Douglass and Grace Bustill Douglass. Her grandfather was Cyrus Bustill, a Quaker, who owned a bakery, operated a school, and was one of the early members of the Free African Society, the first Afro-American charity organization. Her mother operated a millinery store next to the family bakery. Young Douglass entered the “colored” school that her mother and the wealthy Negro shipbuilder James Forten established in 1819.

Margaretta Forten, Suffragist, and Abolitionist born

*Margaretta Forten was born on this date in 1806. She was a Black suffragist and abolitionist. Margaretta Forten was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents, Charlotte Vandine Forten and James Forten, were abolitionists, and her father founded the American Moral Reform Society. Due to the exclusion of women from the American Anti-Slavery Society, Forten, with her mother Charlotte and sisters […]

Solomon Northup, Abolitionist, and Author born

*Solomon Northup was born on this date in 1807. He was a Black musician, abolitionist, and author. Born in Rhode Island, he was taken with the Northup family when they moved to Hoosick, New York, in Rensselaer County.   His father, Mintus, was a freedman who had been a slave in his early life in […]

James Pennington, Author, and Abolitionist born

The birth of the Reverend James William Charles Pennington in 1807 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black educator, clergyman, orator, author, and abolitionist.

Samuel Bass, Laborer and Abolitionist born

*Samuel Bass’s birth is celebrated on October 30, 1807. He was a white-Canadian laborer and abolitionist. Bass was born and raised in Augusta Township, Upper Canada (now Ontario). His parents were John and Hannah Lakins Bass, who had twelve children. His grandparents, Adonijah and Lydia Draper Bass were United Empire Loyalists who lived in Walloomsac, […]

Salmon P. Chase, Abolitionist, and Judge born

Salmon Portland Chase, a white man, was born on this date in 1808. He was a White American teacher, abolitionist, lawyer, and judge.

Anne Hampton, Domestic and Chef born.

*Anne Hampton was born on this date in 1808. She was a free Black domestic and chef. She was raised in Hudson Falls, New York, and was of African, Indigenous, and European ancestry. In 1829, she married Solomon Northup, and she gave birth to their children Elizabeth in 1831, Margaret in 1833, and Alonzo Northup […]

Frances Dana Barker Gage, Abolitionist born

*Frances Dana Barker Gage was born on this date in 1808.  She was a white-American reformer, feminist, and abolitionist.   Frances Dana Barker was born near Marietta, Ohio, the daughter of farmers Elizabeth Dana and Col. Joseph Barker, the tenth of eleven children.  Baker wrote that her woman suffrage work began when she was ten years old in 1818. She helped her father […]

Benjamin ‘Pap’ Singleton, Abolitionist born

The birth of “Pap” Singleton in 1809 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black abolitionist who helped lead hundreds of African Americans out of the South and into the West, specifically to Kansas, during Reconstruction.

Francis Frederic, Writer, and Publisher born

*The birth of Francis Fredric is celebrated on this date in 1809. He was a Black abolitionist and publisher.

He was born a slave on a plantation in Fauquier County, Virginia. When he was fourteen years old, Fredric’s master moved to Mason County, Kentucky. His master’s wife used him as a house slave. However, after attending a prayer meeting he was so badly whipped he ran away. He was free for nine weeks but was captured and received 107 lashes of the whip.