People, Locations, Episodes

Benjamin Bradley, Inventor born

*The birth of Benjamin Bradley is celebrated on this date in 1836. He was a Black engineer and inventor. Bradley’s correct surname was Boardley, but since 1859 authors have written about him with Bradley. He was born a slave in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in March 1836. He became literate while learning from his master’s […]

William John Livingston, Land Owner born

*This date in 1836 celebrates the birth of William John Livingston, a Black slave and laborer born in Northeastern Missouri and a childhood friend of Mark Twain. Joseph Daugherty of Hannibal, Missouri, bought him when he was twelve. After his master’s death, Judge Ringo bought and freed him during the American Civil War in 1863. The following year, […]

New Philadelphia, Illinois is Founded

*New Philadelphia, Illinois, is celebrated on this date in 1836.  This is one of many original Black Town sites in America.  The now-vanished town of “New Philadelphia,” Illinois, is located near Barry, in Pike County.   It was the first town in the United States to be platted and registered by a Black man before the American Civil War. The founder Free Frank McWorter was […]

The Colored American Weekly is Published

*On this date in 1837, The Colored American Weekly began circulation.  This was a Black newspaper published in New York City from 1837 to 1842 by Samuel Cornish and Phillip Alexander Bell.   Initially published under The Weekly Advocate, New York’s Colored American was a weekly newspaper of four to six pages. It circulated in free Black communities in the Northeastern United States. The Colored American focused on the moral, […]

Weeksville, Brooklyn, New York, a story

*On this date from 1838, the Registry celebrates the Weeksville section of Brooklyn, New York. This is an African American community that was build by blacks, for blacks before emancipation.

William Purvis, Inventor born

*William B. Purvis was born on this date in 1838.  He was a Black inventor and businessman who received multiple patents in the late 1800s.   Born in Pennsylvania, Purvis was one of eight children to Joseph and Sarah Purvis. His relatives, James Forten and Robert Purvis,were involved in the abolitionist movement.  Purvis’s upbringing is credited to his uncle working for the Underground […]

Robert Reed Church Sr., Businessman born

*Robert Reed Church, Sr., was born on this date in 1839. He was a Black business leader and philanthropist. 

Nathan Toomer, Freedmen born

*On this date in 1839, we celebrate the birth of Nathan Toomer. He was a Black freedman and farmer. Nathan Toomer was born into slavery in Chatham County, North Carolina, and sold to Col. Henry Toomer. Nathan worked for Henry Toomer as a personal valet and assistant before and after the American Civil War, learning the ways of […]

A Black Man Receives a Feather Renovator Patent

 *On this date in 1840, a Black man received a patent for a machine for cleaning and drying feathers. Robert Benjamin Lewis received patent #1,655. “Machine for Cleaning and Drying Feathers” is described as the “arrangement and combination of feathers by steam and steam heat” and could be used for “dressing over old feathers or preparing […]

Felix Battles, Soldier, and Barber born

*The birth of Felix Battles is celebrated on this date in 1840. He was a Black soldier and barber. Born enslaved on a cotton plantation near Memphis, TN, he lived his childhood near Holly Springs, MS. Between 1856 and 1860, Battles escaped his enslavers. He is in the 1860 census in Dubuque, Iowa, with three […]

Lewis Henry Douglass, Administrator born

9*Lewis Henry Douglass was born on this date in 1840. He was a Black typesetter, soldier, teacher, and administrator. He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the oldest son of Frederick Douglass and his first wife, Anna Murray Douglass. He was well educated and, as a boy apprenticed, in Rochester, New York, as a typesetter for his father’s […]

John Henry Murphy Sr., Journalist born

This date marks the birthday of John Henry Murphy Sr. He was a Black journalist, businessman and founder of the Black newspaper the Baltimore Afro-American.

John Henry Murphy, Sr., was born a slave on Christmas day 1840 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. He served as a sergeant in the infantry during the Civil War. After the war he worked as a white-washer and home decorator. Murphy founded the Afro-American newspaper in 1892, originally designed to serve a local church community.

Henry Morton Stanley, Colonial Administrator born

*Sir Henry Morton Stanley was born on this date in 1841.  He was a white-European (Welsh) journalist, explorer, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician.  Born as John Rowlands in Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales. His mother, Elizabeth Parry was 18 years old at the time of his birth. She abandoned him as a very young baby and cut off all communication. Stanley never […]

Emma Chappell, Banker, and Economist born

 *The birth of Emma Chappell is marked on this date in 1941.  She was a Black economist, sociopolitical activist, and bank administrator.    Born in Philadelphia, at sixteen, she first became interested in banking when her pastor noted her mathematical abilities and encouraged her to pursue a career in banking.  In 1959 she started as a […]

A Black Man Receives a Whitewash Brush Patent

 *On this date in 1841, a Black man received a patent for an improved brush for whitewashing. Robert Benjamin Lewis received #1992. “The object of my improvements is to remedy these defects effectually and to provide, as it were, a framework in which new bristles may be inserted at a trifling expense after the old ones […]