People, Locations, Episodes

Robert Purvis, Abolitionist born

*Robert Purvis was born on this date in 1810. He was an African American political leader and abolitionist.

From Charleston, South Carolina, the second of three sons born to a white cotton merchant and a free woman of color, young Purvis was to be a determined opponent of slavery. At the age of nine, his father sent the family to Philadelphia where Purvis enrolled in the Pennsylvania Abolition Society’s Clarkson School. He later attended Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Abolitionist born

*Cassius Marcellus Clay was born on this date in 1810. Nicknamed the “Lion of White Hall,” he was a Kentucky planter, politician, and abolitionist.   Cassius Marcellus Clay was born to Sally Lewis and Green Clay, one of Kentucky’s wealthiest planters and enslavers, who became a prominent politician. He was one of six children who survived to […]

Adam Kok III, South African Leader born.

*Adam Kok III was born on this date in 1811. He was a Black leader of the Griqua people in South Africa. The son of Adam Kok II, Kok III was born in Griqualand, West South Africa. His family and father’s followers moved to the area after disputes with other groups, and he was educated […]

Jermain Loguen, Minister, and Abolitionist born

The birth of Jermain Wesley Loguen is celebrated on this date in 1813. He was a Black abolitionist and religious leader.

Anna Murray-Douglass, Abolitionist born

On this date, we celebrate the birth of Anna Murray Douglass, a Black abolitionist, born in 1813.

Murray Douglass was from near Denton in eastern Maryland, and was the first person in her family to be born free. At the age of 17, she came to Baltimore where she met and eventually married Frederick Douglass (then Frederick Bailey). They married after his escape from slavery in 1838.

Murray-Douglass was an activist in her own right, participating vigorously in the circle of the Massachusetts reformers in the 1840s. This group included Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison.

Mary Ellen Pleasant, Entrepreneur born

*On this date in 1814, Mary Ellen Pleasant was born. She was an African American abolitionist, businesswoman, and entrepreneur for over fifty years in the San Francisco Gold Rush heyday.

Mrytilla Miner, Educator born

*Myrtilla Miner was born on this date in 1815. She was a white-American educator and abolitionist.  From Brookfield, New York, Miner was educated at the Clover Street Seminary in Rochester, New York (1840–44), and taught at various schools, including the Newton Female Institute (1846–47) in Whitesville, Mississippi, where she was denied permission to conduct classes for Black girls. In 1851, Miner opened the Normal School […]

George DeBaptiste, Michigan Abolitionist born

*The birth of George DeBaptiste, in 1815, is celebrated on this date. He was a Black abolitionist and businessman.

Sarah Blake Shaw, Philanthropist born

 *Sarah Blake Shaw was born on this date in 1815.  She was a white-American abolitionist, women’s rights supporter, anti-imperialist, and philanthropist.   Sarah Blake Sturgis was the daughter of Bostonians Nathaniel Russell Sturgis and Susannah Thomsen Parkman. She was the younger sister of merchant Russell Sturgis. She married Francis George Shaw on June 9, 1835. […]

Benjamin F. Robert, Abolitionist, and Journalist born

*Benjamin F. Roberts was born on this date in 1815. He was a Black printer, writer, activist, and abolitionist. Benjamin F. Roberts was one of the 12 children of Sarah and Robert Roberts. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was named after Benjamin Franklin and came from an impressive lineage of activists and writers through both […]

Bethany Veney, Abolitionist, and Author born

The birth of Bethany Veney in 1815 is celebrated on this date. She was a Black woman author.

Leonard Grimes, Pastor, and Abolitionist born

*Leonard Grimes was born on this date in 1815.  was a Black abolitionist and pastor.   Born a mulatto child in Leesburg, Virginia, Leonard Andrew Grimes grew up a free man. Yet, he witnessed the horrors of slavery in the South and devoted his life to assisting fugitive slaves and advocating abolitionism. After moving to […]

Elizabeth C. Stanton, Abolitionist, and Feminist born

*Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born on this date in 1815. She was a White American abolitionist and feminist.

Henry Wagoner, Abolitionist born

*Henry Wagoner was born on this date in 1816. He was a Black abolitionist and civil rights activist. Henry O. Wagoner was born in Hagerstown, Maryland. As a child, Wagoner was taught to read by his paternal grandmother but was rarely able to attend school, achieving less than a year’s schooling while working on a farm. Starting […]

John G. Fee Jr., Abolitionist, and Minister born

*John G. Fee Jr. was born on this date in 1816. He was a white-American abolitionist, minister, and educator. John Gregg Fee Jr. was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, and was the son of John Fee and Elizabeth Bradford, whose mother was a Quaker from Pennsylvania. His father inherited a bondsman who reached the term of […]