People, Locations, Episodes

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 […]

Jane Swisshelm, News Publisher and Abolitionist born.

Jane Cannon Swisshelm was born in on this date in 1815. She was a White American educator, publisher, and abolitionist.

She was born in Pittsburgh, PA.,and when she was eight, her father died. She helped her mother support the family by lace making and, at the age of 14, as a schoolteacher. In 1836, she married James Swisshelm and moved to Louisville, Kentucky. It was here that she became involved in the campaign against slavery and became a member of the Underground Railroad. In 1848, Swisshelm established her own anti-slavery newspaper, the Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter.

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 […]

Edmund Edward Wysinger, Mining Pioneer born

*The birth of Edmond Edward Wysinger is celebrated on this date in 1816. He was a Black Native American pioneer.   He was born in South Carolina, the son of a Cherokee woman and an African slave. In the early part of 1849, at the age of 32, Wysinger and his German owner made the […]

Hector Davis, Slave Trader, born.

*Hector Davis was born on this date in 1816. He was a white-American slave trader. He was the son of John S. Davis and Jane W. Matthews Davis, the second of his three wives. They resided in Goochland County; in the 1840s, Davis moved to Richmond, where city directories and newspaper advertisements most often identified […]

William Lambert, Abolitionist born

*This date in 1817 is celebrated as the birth date of William Lambert, a Black abolitionist and businessman.   William Lambert was born free in Trenton, New Jersey. At least one of his parents was free at his birth. Crucial to his later success, Lambert was taken under the wing of a Quaker schoolmaster. This […]

Adelicia Hayes Franklin, White Slave Trader born.

*Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham was born on this date in 1817. She was a white-American planter and slave trader. Adelicia Hayes was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Her parents were Northerners: her father was Oliver Bliss Hayes, a lawyer and later Presbyterian minister from South Hadley, Massachusetts. Her mother was Sarah Clements (Hightower) Hayes. They […]

George Washington, Farmer, and Businessman

On this date we recall the birth of George Washington in 1817. He was a Black farmer, businessman and the founder of the town of Centralia, Washington.

Biddy Mason, Nurse, and Entrepreneur born

*On this date in 1818, Bridget “Biddy” Mason was born. She was a once illiterate Black slave woman who worked as a nurse/midwife and then walked from Mississippi to California to become a successful entrepreneur and a generous contributor to social causes.

James Wormley, Businessman born

*James Wormley was born on this date in 1819.  He was a Black businessman. James Wormley was born a free Black citizen in 1819 in Washington. He and his siblings believed they were of Native American descent. Wormley started driving a carriage for his father, Lynch Wormley, who owned a livery near the Willard Hotel. […]

Christiana Carteaux Bannister, Businesswoman, and Activist born

*This date in 1819 is celebrated as the birth date of Christiana Carteaux Bannister. She was a Black business entrepreneur, hairdresser, and abolitionist in New England. Christiana Carteaux was born Christiana Babcock in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. She was born to African and Narragansett Native American parents. She was a descendant of enslaved Blacks who worked the […]

Benjamin Montgomery, Inventor born

*The birth of Benjamin Montgomery is celebrated on this date in 1819. He was a Black inventor. Born a slave in Loudon, Virginia, Montgomery was “purchased” by  Jefferson Davis, the future president of the Confederacy and the South’s commander and Chief in the American Civil War, when he was 18. After purchasing his new slave, Davis […]

George T. Downing, Abolitionist born

*George T. Downing was born on this date in 1819. He was a Black abolitionist and businessman.   George Thomas Downing was born in New York City to Thomas Downing and Rebecca (West). His father, Thomas, was born in Chincoteague, Virginia, to parents freed from slavery when their master, John Downing, a prominent planter, converted to Methodism. The […]

Phillip Reed, Master Craftsman born

*The birth of Philip Reed is celebrated on this date, c. 1820. He was a Black master craftsman.    He was born into slavery in South Carolina’s historic city of Charleston. Also known as Philip Reid, he worked at the foundries of self-taught sculptor Clark Mills. He was emancipated on April 16, 1862, under the […]

Augustus Washington, Photographer born

*Augustus Washington’s birth in 1820 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American abolitionist and photographer specializing as a Daguerreotypist.