*Elizabeth Van Lew was born on this date in 1818. She was a white-American abolitionist and philanthropist. Elizabeth Van Lew was born in Richmond, Virginia, to John Van Lew and Eliza Baker, whose maternal grandfather was abolitionist Hilary Baker, mayor of Philadelphia from 1796 to 1798. Her father came to Richmond in 1806 at 16; […]
learn more*Benjamin Franklin Butler was born on this date in 1818. He was a white-American major general, politician, lawyer, and businessman. Born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler is best known as a political major of the Union Army during the American Civil War and for his leadership role in the impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson. He was a colorful and often controversial figure on the […]
learn more*The birth of Benjamin Franklin Randolph is celebrated on this date in 1820. He was a Black educator, an army chaplain, a minister, a newspaper editor, a politician, Early life Benjamin Franklin Randolph was born in Kentucky, the child of free Blacks. He moved with his family to Ohio as a child, where he attended […]
learn moreThe birth of John Jumper is celebrated on this date in c.1820. He was a native American, Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation, a slave owner, and a Baptist pastor. He was born into a prominent Seminole family. His uncle was Micanopy, the leading chief of the Seminole tribe, and his father was Ote Emathla, […]
learn more*The birth of Harriet Robinson Scott is celebrated on this date in c. 1820. She was a Black domestic who fought for her freedom alongside her husband, Dred Scott. Born into slavery, Harriet Robinson was brought from Pennsylvania to the Northwest Territory by Indian agent and slaveholder Lawrence Taliaferro in 1835. Around 1836, she married Dred […]
learn more*The Republic of Costa Rica gained independence from Spain on this date in 1821. The first Blacks to arrive in Costa Rica came through the middle passage with the Spanish conquistadors. Beginning in the 15th century, the slave trade was common in all the countries conquered by Spain. Costa Rica’s first Blacks were shipped from […]
learn more*On this date, in 1822, Ulysses S. Grant was born. He was a white-American soldier and politician. Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, to Jesse Root Grant, a tanner and merchant, and Hannah Simpson Grant. Grant’s great-grandfather fought in the French and Indian War, and his grandfather, Noah, served in the American Revolution at Bunker Hill. Their son Jesse (Ulysses’s father) was a Whig Party supporter […]
learn moreHiram R. (Rhodes) Revels was born on this date in 1822. He was a Black educator, minister, and politician, and the first African American to serve in the United States Senate.
learn more*Sylvanus B. Lowry was born on this date in 1824. He was a 19th-century white-American political boss, slave owner, newspaper publisher, and pioneer. Born in Princeton, Kentucky, Lowry’s father was David Lowry, a Scottish-American Cumberland Presbyterian minister and missionary to the Winnebago people in northeast Iowa. In 1847, the Lowry family followed the Winnebago as […]
learn more*Rufus Saxton was born on this date in 1824. He was a white-American Union Army brigadier general. Saxton was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts. His father, Jonathan Ashley Saxton, was a Unitarian and a Transcendentalist. His father attempted to secure Rufus Saxton a place at Brook Farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, a transcendentalist community started by George Ripley and attended by Nathaniel […]
learn more*James Skivring Smith was born on this date in 1825. He was a Black doctor and politician.
learn more*This date remembers Benjamin Sterling Turner born in 1825. He was a Black businessman, politician, and the first Black member of the House of Representatives from Alabama.
learn moreThis date recalls the birth of Richard Harvey Cain born in 1825. He was a Black political and civic leader of the Charleston, South Carolina reconstruction era.
learn more*Orindatus Wall was born on this date in 1825. He was a black lawyer, businessman and Union Army officer.
learn more*On this date, in 1825, Uruguay gained independence from Spain. Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. Like many South American countries, the middle passage, race, and class issues motivated Uruguay’s quest for self-rule and independence. In 1811, José Gervasio Artigas, who became Uruguay’s national hero, launched a successful revolt […]
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