People, Locations, Episodes

Stand Watie, Native American Slave Owner born

*Stand Watie was born on this date in 1806. He was a Native American Cherokee Chief, slave owner, and military officer. From Rome, Georgia, he was also called De Gata Ga (Cherokee: “Stand Firm”).   At 12, he was sent to a mission school where he learned to speak English. He later helped an older brother […]

Peter Burnett, Slave Owner, and Politician born

*Peter Burnett was born on this date in 1807.  He was a white-American slave owner and politician who enforced discriminatory legislation against Black Native Americans and Chinese immigrants in the West. Raised in a slave-owning family in Missouri, Peter Hardeman Burnett moved westward after his business left him heavily in debt. Initially residing in Oregon […]

Jefferson Davis, Confederate President born

Jefferson Davis was born in this date in 1808. He was a White American slave owner and president of the Confederacy.

The West Africa Squadron Is Created

*This date, 1808, confirms that the West Africa Squadron was formed. It was a regiment of the British Royal Navy. Also known as the Preventative Squadron, its goal was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa. Formed after the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act 1807 and based out of […]

Chile Declares Independence From Spain

*On this date in 1808, Chile declared its Independence from Spain. This declaration eventually led to over a decade of violence and war, which did not end until the last royalist stronghold fell in 1826. At the start of 1808, the Captaincy General of Chile – one of the smallest and poorest colonies in the […]

Andrew Johnson, Politician born

*Andrew Johnson was born on this date in 1808. He was a white-American tailor and politician.   Johnson was born in poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina, and never attended school. Jacob Johnson’s father was a porter at an inn, among other jobs, and died when he was 3, while his mother, Mary “Polly” McDonough Johnson, was a laundress and […]

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.

Abraham Lincoln, American Politician born

*Abraham Lincoln was born on this date in 1809. He was a white American politician and lawyer and the 16th President of the United States.

Joseph Roberts, Liberia’s First President born

*This date celebrates the birth of Joseph Jenkins Roberts in 1809. He was a Black nationalist during slavery and the first president of Liberia (1848-56).

Benjamin Curtis, Supreme Court Judge born

*On this date, in 1809, Benjamin Curtis was born.  He was a white-American attorney and a United States Supreme Court Justice.  Curtis was the first and only Whig justice of the Supreme Court.  He successfully acted as chief counsel for the Impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson. Benjamin Robbins Curtis was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, the […]

William Gladstone, Politician and Slaveowner born.

*William Gladstone was born on this date in 1809. He was a white British statesman, slave owner, and politician. Born in Liverpool, William Ewart Gladstone was of Scottish ancestry. He was the fourth son of the wealthy enslaver John Gladstone and his second wife, Anne MacKenzie Robertson. In 1814, young “Willy” visited Scotland for the […]

Samuel McCulloch Jr., Freedmen and Soldier born

*Samuel McCulloch Jr. was born on this date in 1810. He was a Black soldier who fought in the Texas Revolution. He was born in Alabama. His white father, Samuel McCulloch Sr., had three daughters. There is no mention of Samuel’s mother in any official record. His father moved the family to Montgomery, Alabama, in […]

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 […]

Billy Bowlegs, Seminole Chief born

*November is Native American history month, and on this date, Chief Billy Bowlegs’s birth in 1810 is celebrated.   He was a Native American leader of the Seminoles and slave owner of Africans in Florida during the Second and Third Seminole Wars against the United States.  Bowlegs was born into a family of hereditary chiefs descended from Cowkeeper of the Oconee tribe of the Seminole in the […]

Charles Sumner, Abolitionist in Politician born

Charles Sumner was born on this date in 1811. He was a White American politician and abolitionist.