People, Locations, Episodes

Theo Allain, Businessman, and Politician born

On this date we remember the birth of Theophile Allain in 1846. He was a Black farmer, merchant and politician.

A Black Man Patents The Sugar Evaporator

On this date in 1846, Norbert Rillieux, a Black inventor and engineer, patented his revolutionary improvement in the cultivation and processing of sugar.

Rillieux was born into an aristocratic Creole family in New Orleans. He was the son of Vincent Rillieux, a white plantation owner, engineer and inventor, and his placée, Constance Vivant, a Free Person of Color. As a Creole, Norbert had access to education and privileges not available to lower-status blacks or slaves.

William Pettiford, Minister, and Businessman born

*William Pettiford was born on this date in 1847. He was a black minister, educator and business entrepreneur.

Isaiah Montgomery, Political Activist born

*Isaiah Montgomery was born on this date in 1847. He was a Black politician, administrator, and civil rights activist.  Born into slavery, he was the son of Ben Montgomery, a slave whose owner, Joseph Davis, promoted him to overseer. The younger Montgomery learned to read and write due to his father’s influential position on the Davis Bend plantation. Davis wanted to […]

Thomas Askew, Photographer born

*On this date in 1847, the birth of Thomas E. Askew was celebrated. He was a Black photographer. He was born a slave in Atlanta, GA, and began his photography career after the American Civil War. In 1868, Askew married Mary E. Askew, and to their union were born Minnie N., Arthur C., Clarence E.J., Walter […]

George F. Grant, Dentist, and Inventor born

*George Grant was born on this date in 1847; he was a Black inventor and dentist, the first Black professor at Harvard. George Franklin Grant was born in Oswego, New York, to Phillis Pitt and Tudor Elanor Grant.  Grant entered the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in 1868 and graduated in 1870. He then took […]

The New York Age Newspaper is Published

*On this date, in 1887, The New York Age began publication.  This black newspaper was produced from 1887 to 1960 and was one of the most influential nonwhite newspapers of its time.   The paper originated as the weekly New York Globe, another black newspaper published weekly from 1880 to November 8, 1884. Co-founded by editor Timothy Thomas Fortune, it became the New York Freeman from […]

The North Star Newspaper is Published

*On this date in 1847, The North Star newspaper began publication.  This was a nineteenth-century anti-slavery newspaper published by abolitionist Frederick Douglass.  The North Star’s slogan was “Right is of no Sex, Truth is of no Color. God is the Father of us all, and all we are Brethren.”  Douglass was first inspired to publish […]

The Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter Newspaper is Published

*The Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter newspaper was published on this date in 1847. This was an abolitionist and women’s rights newspaper printed in Pittsburgh.   Jane Swisshelm was its editor, and Robert M. Riddle printed the paper. Swisshelm funded the work through money in her estate; at the time, the abolitionist newspaper in Pittsburgh had closed. Crowds were […]

John Q. Adams, News Publisher born

*John Quincy Adams was born on this date in 1848. He was a Black businessman and newspaper publisher.

Adams was one of four children of the Reverend Henry Adams, minister of the Fifth Street Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky, and Margaret Priscilla Corbin of Chillicothe, Ohio. He received his elementary and secondary education in private schools at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and Yellow Springs, Ohio, later graduating from Oberlin College in Ohio. Upon graduation he returned to Louisville where he began teaching in his father’s school and in other parts of the state.

John A. Burr, Inventor born

*The birth of John Burr is celebrated on this date in 1848. He was a Black inventor.  Born in Maryland, John Albert Burr’s parents, John T. and Anna Wanger Burr, were slaves, but they were freed. Young Burr was a teenager during the American Civil War and worked as a fieldhand. His inventive talent was […]

Lloyd G. Wheeler, Businessman born

*Lloyd Wheeler, born on this date in 1848, was a Black attorney, businessman, philanthropist, and political leader.   Lloyd Garrison Wheeler was born in Mansfield, Ohio. His father was active in the underground railroad movement, providing secret accommodations for escaping slaves from the South en route to freedom in Canada.  With the illegal status of […]

Andrew J. Beard, Farmer, and Inventor born

*The birth of Andrew Beard in 1849 is celebrated on this date. He was a black farmer and inventor.

Wewoka, Oklahoma is Founded

*Wewoka, Oklahoma, is celebrated on this date in 1849. This city in Seminole County, Oklahoma, was founded by a Black Seminole, John Horse. In the spring of 1849, Horse and a group of Black Seminoles founded a settlement near modern-day Wewoka. Seeking safety and autonomy from the Creek Nation, they established a community at the falls […]

William Washington Browne, Businessman, and Minister born

*William Washington Browne was born on this date in1849. He was a Black teacher, minister and businessman.