People, Locations, Episodes

Moses Dickson, Minister, and Soldier born

Moses Dickson was born on this date in 1824. He was a Black abolitionist, soldier, and minister.

Born free in Cincinnati, he worked on steamboats during the Civil War and saw first hand the horrors of slavery. In 1846, the Reverend Moses Dickson met with eleven other black men in St. Louis and founded the Twelve Knights of Tabor. (They were also called the Knights of Liberty.) This group was a secret society for blacks who wanted to fight for freedom from slavery. That organization used St. Louis as its headquarters and aided hundreds of slaves to freedom.

Costa Rica Abolishes Slavery

*On this date in 1824, Costa Rica abolished slavery.

Laura M. Towne, Educator, and Abolitionist born

On this date in 1825, Laura Matilda Towne was born. She was a White American educator and abolitionist.

From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Towne studied homeopathic medicine privately and attended the Penn Medical University. She taught in charity schools in various northern towns and cities in the 1850s and ’60s. Early in 1862 she answered an appeal for volunteers to teach, nurse, and otherwise help former slaves who had been freed in the Union capture of Port Royal and other Sea Islands area of South Carolina. In April of that year she arrived at St. Helena Island, SC.

Henry Blackwell, Abolitionist born

*Henry Blackwell was born on this date in 1825. He was a white-American abolitionist and advocate for women’s rights and social and economic reform. Henry Blackwell was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, the seventh of nine children of Samuel Blackwell and Hannah Lane Blackwell. In 1832, the family, including eight children and their father’s sister Mary, emigrated […]

Sarah Jane Early, Educator born

On this date in 1825, Sarah Jane Early was born. She was a Black teacher, abolitionist, and feminist.

James M. Bell, Poet, and Abolitionist born

*On this date in 1826 James Bell was born. He was a Black poet, laborer and abolitionist.

Sarah Remond, Abolitionist born

On this date in 1826, Sarah Parker Remond was born. She was a Black woman who was an abolitionist and one of the most articulate public speakers of her time.

She was born in Salem, MA, one of eight children. Although she had little schooling she educated herself by reading books, pamphlets, and newspapers borrowed from friends or purchased from the Anti-Slavery Society of her community. Her family and associates included many activists of the times, and Remond witnessed many of the effects of slavery and racism involving the Underground Railroad.

John R. Bowles, Teacher, and Chaplain born

*John R. Bowles was born on this date in 1826. He was a Black teacher and minister. John R. Bowles was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. Little is known of his youth. By 1848, he had relocated to Ross County, Ohio, where he married Sarah Bryant. Records show they had at least two children. Bowles was […]

John P. Parker, Abolitionist, and Inventor born

*On this date in 1827, we celebrate the birth of John P. Parker. He was a Black businessman and abolitionist.

Eliza Bryant, Nursing Home Administrator born

The birth of Eliza Bryant in 1827 is celebrated on this date. She was a Black abolitionist and businesswoman.

She grew up on a plantation in Wayne County North Carolina her parents were Polly Simmons, a slave, and her master. In 1848 her mother was freed and her family moved north, purchasing a home in Cleveland, Ohio with funds from her master. Young Bryant’s education is unknown but she was a pioneer in the movement to welcome and assist Blacks to the Cleveland area, particularly those moving from the southern states through the Great Migration after emancipation.

The Oneida Institute Begins Classes

*The Oneida Institute’s opening is celebrated on this date in 1827. It was a short-lived (16 years) but highly influential school that was a national leader in the (then) emerging anti-slavery movement.   George Washington Gale founded it as the Oneida Institute of Science and Industry.   His former teacher (in the Addison County Grammar School, Middlebury, John Frost, now a Presbyterian minister in […]

Eliza Winston, Domestic Worker, and Abolitionist born

*The birth of Eliza Winston is celebrated on this date, c. 1830.  She was a Black slave from Mississippi who was freed from her owners while with them on vacation in Minnesota, a free state.  In the summer of 1860, Eliza Winston, a thirty-year-old enslaved woman, was taken to St. Anthony, Minnesota, by her owners, […]

Luís Gama, Journalist and Abolitionist born.

*Luís Gama was born on this date in 1830. He was an Afro Brazilian self-taught lawyer, abolitionist, orator, journalist, and writer. He was a black intellectual in 19th-century slave-owning Brazil who spent his life fighting for the abolition of slavery and for the end of the monarchy in Brazil. Luís Gonzaga Pinto da Gama was born in […]

Eliza Ann Gardner, Religious Leader born

*Eliza Ann Gardner was born on this date in 1831. She was a Black abolitionist, religious leader, and women’s rights activist. Eliza Ann Gardner was born to James and Eliza Gardner in New York City. As a child, she moved with her family to Boston, where her father had a successful career as a shipping contractor. […]

Nat Turner is Hanged

On this date in 1831, Nat Turner was hanged in Jerusalem, Virginia. Turner, a slave and educated minister, believed that he was chosen by God to lead his people out of slavery. On August 21, 1831, he initiated his slave uprising by slaughtering Joseph Travis, his slave owner, and Travis’ family.

With seven followers, he set off across the countryside, hoping to rally hundreds of slaves to join his insurrection. Turner’s rebellion was the largest slave revolt in U.S. history and led to a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the movement, assembly, and education of slaves.