People, Locations, Episodes

John Jumper, Seminole Chief born

The birth of John Jumper is celebrated on this date in c.1820. He was a native American, Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation, slave owner, and 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, a trusted […]

Harriet Robinson Scott, Abolitionist born

*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 […]

Nathan Forest, Confederate Officer born

*On this date in 1821, Nathan Forrest was born.  He was a white-American slave trader and Confederate army officer.  Nathan Bedford Forrest was born into a poor settler family in a secluded frontier cabin near Chapel Hill, Tennessee. He was the first son of Mariam (Beck) and William Forrest.  His father, William, was of English descent, and his mother, Mariam, was […]

Costa Rica Gains Independence From Spain

*The Republic of Costa Rica gained independence from Spain on this date in 1821.  The first Blacks that arrived 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, the first blacks, were shipped […]

Ulysses S. Grant, Soldier, and Politician born

*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 and abolitionist.   […]

Hiram Revels, Congressman born

Hiram 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.

Robert Morris, Lawyer, and Abolitionist born

*Robert Morris was born on this date in 1823. He was a Lawyer, abolitionist, and one of the first Black attorneys in the United States.   Morris was born in Salem, Massachusetts. At the age of 15, Morris went to work as a household servant for the abolitionist lawyer Ellis Gray Loring. When Loring’s white copyist neglected his duties.  Impressed with Morris’s legal […]

Thomas Higginson, Abolitionist born.

*On this date, in 1823, Thomas Higginson was born.  He was a white-American Unitarian minister, author, abolitionist, and soldier.   Thomas Wentworth Higginson was born in Cambridge, MA.  He entered Harvard College at age thirteen and was elected Phi Beta Kappa at sixteen.  He graduated in 1841 and was a schoolmaster for two years. In 1842, he became engaged to Mary Elizabeth Channing.  He then studied theology […]

Sylvanus B. Lowry, Slave Owner and Politician born.

*Sylvanus B. Lowry was born on this date in 1824. He was a white-American 19th-century 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 […]

George Boyer Vashon, Lawyer born

*George Boyer Vashon was born on this date in 1824.  He was a Black educator, lawyer and abolitionist.

From Carlile, Pennsylvania, he was the son of John Baton Vashon, a mulatto, and Anne Vashon. George’s father, John Bathan Vashon, was a well respected leader in Pittsburgh’s Black community, a businessman, and an abolitionist.  Vashon’s father was also instrumental in establishing the first school for Blacks in Pittsburgh.  He attended his father’s private school until 1837, then a public school where he displayed an aptitude for languages.

Rufus Saxton, Union Army Officer born

*On this date, in 1824, Rufus Saxton was born.  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 a place for Rufus Saxton at Brook Farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, a transcendentalist community started by George Ripley and attended by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Saxton was educated at the United States Military Academy at West […]

James Skivring Smith, Doctor, and Politician born

*James Skivring Smith was born on this date in 1825. He was a Black doctor and politician.

Andre Cailloux, Businessman, and Soldier born

*The birth of Andre Cailloux in 1825 is celebrated on this date. He was a Black businessman and soldier in the Civil War.

Benjamin S. Turner, Businessman, and Politician born

*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.

Richard Cain, Politician born

This 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.