People, Locations, Episodes

Angola, Florida is Founded

*Angola, Florida, is celebrated on this date, c1812.  This Black community of up to 750 maroons in Florida from 1812 until Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821 when it was destroyed. The location was along the Manatee River in Bradenton, Florida, near Manatee Mineral Springs Park.  The exact location is expansive, ranging from where […]

William Lambert, Abolitionist born

*The birth of William Lambert is celebrated on this date in 1817.  He was 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. […]

Alex Crummell, Nationalist, and Missionary born

*Alexander Crummell was born on this date in 1819. He was a Black nationalist and missionary.

The Missouri Compromise Is Ratified

*The Missouri Compromise with legislative measures was enacted on this date in 1820. This measure allowed The United States Congress to thus regulate the extension of slavery in the United States for the next three decades.

Henry Clay Bruce, Writer born

*Henry Clay Bruce was born on this date in 1836. He was a Black writer.

Born a slave in Virginia, his mother told him he was born the year that Martin Van Buren was elected President of the United States. This was because (as slaves were forbidden to read), in order to gage the birth of a child, Africans usually associated it with the occurrence of some important event. His owner Lemuel Bruce sold the Bruce family eight years later to Jack Perkinson, who lived in Keytesville, Missouri.

Frederick Douglass Jr., Abolitionist, and Editor born

*Frederick Douglass Jr. was born on this date in 1842. He was an abolitionist, essayist, newspaper editor, and official recruiter of colored soldiers for the United States Union Army during the American Civil War. He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the second son of Frederick Douglass and his first wife, Anna Murray Douglass. As a youngster while still […]

‘The Weeping Time’ Episode Occurs

*On this date in 1859, “the weeping time” of slavery occurred in African American heritage. This was the largest sale of human beings in the history in the United States.

The Emancipation Reform of Russia is Enacted

*The Emancipation Reform of Russia was enacted on this date in 1861. also known as the Edict of Emancipation of Russia, it was the first and most important of the liberal reforms enacted during the reign of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. The reform effectively abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire. The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto […]

The Normal School for Colored Girls, (Washington D.C.) Opens

*The Normal School for Colored Girls was chartered on this date in 1863.   Now known as the University of the District of Columbia, it was established in Washington, D.C., as an institution of learning and training for young Black women, especially to train teachers.  The school was founded in 1851 by Myrtilla Miner with encouragement from Henry Ward Beecher and funding from […]

Ariel Hedges Bowen, Educator born

*Ariel Hedges Bowen was born on this date in 1863.  She was a Black writer, temperance activist, and professor of music.  Ariel Serena Hedges was born in Newark, New Jersey, where her father, Charles Hedges, was a Presbyterian clergyman. He was an 1869 graduate of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and organized churches in New York […]

The Freedman’s Bureau Is Formed

*This date celebrates the Freedmen’s Bureau. During the Reconstruction period, after the American Civil War (1865-72), the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands was established by Congress to provide practical aid to 4,000,000 newly freed Black Americans in their transition from slavery to freedom.

The Freedman’s Saving and Trust Company opens

*The Freedman’s Saving and Trust Company opened on this date in 1865. Known as the Freedman’s Savings Bank, it was a private savings bank chartered by the U.S. Congress to collect deposits from the newly emancipated communities. At the end of the American Civil War, the poor economic conditions of the formerly enslaved freedmen were […]

Ludie Clay Andrews, Nurse, and Nursing Advocate born

*Ludie Clay Andrews was born on this date in 1874. She was a Black nurse and administrator. Ludie Clay Andrews, a Mulatto was born in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she graduated from Eddy High School. Shortly after, she entered into nurse training at MacVicar Hospital at Spelman College in Atlanta, graduating in 1906. Spelman College later closed its […]

John Baxter Taylor, Olympian and Veterinarian born

*John Baxter Taylor Jr. was born on this date in 1884. He was an African American veterinarian and Olympic track star.

Elizabeth City State University is Founded

*Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) was founded on this date in 1891. ECSU is one of over 100 historically Black Colleges and Universities in America.

This took place when House Bill 383 was enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly, establishing a Normal School for the specific purpose of “teaching and training teachers of the colored race to teach in the common schools of North Carolina.” When it first began operation on January 4, 1892, ECSU had 23 students, two faculty members, rented quarters, and a budget of $900.