People, Locations, Episodes

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.

Édouard de Laboulaye, French Ambassador born

*Édouard de Laboulaye was born on this date in 1811.  He was a white-French jurist, poet, author, and anti-slavery activist.   Édouard René Lefèbvre de Laboulaye was born in Paris, France to a wealthy family.  Laboulaye was received at the bar in 1842 and was chosen professor of comparative law at the Collège de France in 1849.   A careful observer of […]

Beverly P. Yates, Liberian Politician born

*Beverly Page Yates’ birth 1811 is celebrated on this date. He was a Liberian politician, businessman and soldier.

Born free in Norfolk, Virginia, Yates was eighteen when he left Virginia for Monrovia in 1829. Like many of Liberia’s early colonists, Yates turned to commercial trade for his livelihood and was soon counted among the colony’s principal merchants. Operating from a single warehouse in 1838, the trading partnership of Yates rapidly expanded its business, and by 1844 owned four warehouses as well as its own ship.

Henry Wilson, Politician, and Abolitionist born

*Henry Wilson was born on February 16, 1812. He was a White American political leader and abolitionist.

From Farmington, N.H., his birth name was Jeremiah Jones Colbath, and was legally changed in 1833. As a young man he operated a shoe factory at Natick, Mass., and attended the Strafford, Wolfsboro, and Concord Academies and taught school in Natick, Mass. He was elected to the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature in 1840. Wilson was an opponent of slavery, which caused him to leave the WHIG party.

Black History and American Gerrymandering, a story

*Black History and Gerrymandering voting districts are affirmed on this date in 1812. The word appeared for the first time on this date in the Boston Gazette newspaper. Gerrymandering and its focus on voter suppression began with the passage of the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution. The return of Blacks to Congress after Reconstruction and their expansion in the fourth […]

John Horse, Black Seminole Soldier born

*The birth of John Horse is celebrated on this date, c. 1812.  He was an African and Native American soldier who fought alongside the Seminoles in the Second Seminole War in Florida.   John Horse was from the region called Micanopy in north central Florida. His father was the Seminole trader Charley Cavallo, and his […]

Black History And The War of 1812, a story

*Black history and the War of 1812 are celebrated on this date in 1812. This was a conflict between England and the United States. Blacks fought on both sides though many fought for the same reason: freedom from chattel slavery. In the Revolutionary War, black and white patriots fought together, which helped convince many Northern states […]