People, Locations, Episodes

Nat Turner, Abolitionist born

On this date in 1800, Nat Turner, a Black American slave and the leader of a Black slave revolt, was born.

He was born on a plantation in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner was a popular religious leader among his fellow slaves and became convinced that he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. On August 21, 1831, he and five other slaves killed their master and his family and, joined by about 60 blacks from neighboring plantations, started a general revolt.

Gullah Jack, Abolitionist born

*The birth of Gullah Jack is celebrated on this date in c 1800. He was an African conjurer and abolitionist.  Little was known about his background, except that he was from Angola and was shipped from Zanzibar to America under Zephaniah Kingsley’s direction. He was sent first to Florida, to the Kingsley Plantation. Also known as Counter Jack and […]

Charles Trowbridge, Military Officer born

*Charles Trowbridge was born on this date in 1835. He was a White American soldier, abolitionist, and politician.

Charles Tyler Trowbridge was from Morristown, New Jersey in an area known as Trowbridge Mountain. He was third of seven children born to Elijah Freeman Trowbridge and Temperance Ludlow Muchmore. His family moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1854. In 1857 he married Emeline Haviland Jackson at Freehold, New Jersey. They had one child, Ida Emeline Trowbridge who died in 1858.

Samuel Sharpe, Abolitionist born

*This date in 1801 is celebrated as the birth date of Samuel Sharpe. Also known as Sam Sharpe, he was an enslaved Black Jamaican preacher and abolitionist. Samuel Sharpe was born into slavery in the parish of St James, Jamaica. He was raised on a plantation owned by Samuel and Jane Sharpe. The 1817 slave records […]

Lydia Child, Abolitionist Writer born

*Lydia Maria Francis Child was born on this date in 1802. She was a White American abolitionist writer.

From Medford, Massachusetts, Child began to write popular historical novels in her twenties. In 1826 she established a periodical for children called Juvenile Miscellany and her book, The Frugal Housewife 1829, was particularly popular. After hearing William Lloyd Garrison speak at a public meeting in 1831, Child began her involvement in the campaign against slavery. This included her book An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans 1833.

David Hunter, Abolitionist born

David Hunter was born on this date in 1802. He was a White American soldier and abolitionist.

He was born in Washington D.C. He graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1822 and saw action in the Seminole War (1838-42) and the Mexican War (1846-48).

A strong opponent of slavery, after the outbreak of the American Civil War, he joined the Union Army. He became a colonel and was severely wounded at Bull Run. In March 1862, Hunter was appointed Commander of the Department of the South.

Elijah Lovejoy, Minister, and Abolitionist born

Elijah Parish Lovejoy was born on this date in 1802. He was a White American abolitionist.

Mary M. Blackford, Abolitionist born

*Mary Minor Blackford was born on this date in 1802. She was a white-American abolitionist.  A native of Fredericksburg, VA, Mary Berkeley Minor was the daughter of John Minor and his second wife, Lucy Landon Carter Minor. She was the only daughter of eight children; her father died when she was thirteen. She received education […]

Maria W. Stewart, Author, and Abolitionist born

*The birth of Maria W. Stewart in 1803 is celebrated on this date. She was a Black abolitionist, feminist, author and educator.

Maria W. Stewart was born in Hartford, Connecticut, as Maria Miller. Her parents’ first names and occupations are not known. Stewart was orphaned by age five and became an indentured servant, serving a clergyman until she was fifteen. She attended Connecticut Sabbath schools and read alot in the clergyman’s library, teaching herself how to read and comprehend. When she was fifteen, she began supporting herself by working as a servant.

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, […]

George Thompson, Orator, and Abolitionist born

*George Thompson was born on this date in 1804.  He was a white-British anti-slavery orator and abolitionist. George Donisthorpe Thompson was from Liverpool, England, and had little formal education; he was largely self-taught. In early adulthood, he began a life of professional activism, starting with his role in founding a mutual improvement society at eighteen and his […]

Henry Stanton, Abolitionist born

*Henry Stanton was born on this date in 1805.  He was a white-American abolitionist, social reformer, attorney, journalist, and politician.   Henry Brewster Stanton was born in Preston, Connecticut, the son of Joseph Stanton and Susan M. Brewster. His father manufactured woolen goods and traded with the West Indies.  He remembered his first desires for […]

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. […]