People, Locations, Episodes

Susan B. Anthony, Abolitionist, and Suffragist born

*The birth in 1820 of Susan B. Anthony is marked on this date. She was a White American abolitionist and woman’s rights advocate.

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 […]

Dangerfield F. Newby, Abolitionist born.

*The birth of Dangerfield F. Newby is celebrated on this date in 1820. He was a Black abolitionist and blacksmith. Born into slavery in Culpeper County, Virginia, Newby’s father was Henry Newby, a white landowner. His mother was Elsey Newby, who was enslaved, owned not by a neighbor, John Fox. Elsey and Henry lived together […]

Jeremiah Sanderson, Abolitionist, and Educator born

*Jeremiah Sanderson was born on this date in 1821.  He was a Black abolitionist and advocate for the educational rights of Black children.   Jeremiah Burke Sanderson was born to Daniel Sanderson and Sarah Burke in New Bedford, Massachusetts. His mother was part of the Wampanoag, and his father was African and Scottish. Daniel Sanderson […]

William Still, Philadelphia Abolitionist born

*William Still was born on this date in 1821. He was a Black abolitionist, conductor on the Underground Railroad, writer, historian and activist.

Denmark Vesey, Abolitionist is Hanged

On this date in 1822, as a result of previous trials, Denmark Vesey and 34 others were hanged in Charleston, S.C.

They were convicted of trying to raise an insurrection in the largest slave revolt in American history. Thirty-two others were condemned to exile, and four white men were fined and imprisoned for encouraging the plot.

Catherine Delany, Abolitionist born

*Catherine A. Delany was born on this date in 1822.   She was a Black abolitionist.  Born Catherine A. Richards in Pittsburgh, she was the daughter of Charles Richards, a black man, and Felicia Fitzgerald, a white-American native of Cork, Ireland.  Before the Gradual Abolition Act of 1780, intermarriage between races had been forbidden in Pennsylvania, […]

Mifflin Gibbs, Businessman, and Abolitionist born

On this date in 1823, Mifflin Gibbs was born. He was a Black entrepreneur, lawyer, and abolitionist.

From Philadelphia, Mifflin Wister Gibbs was born free and attended grade school until his father died in 1831. To help his mother and three siblings, he drove a doctors carriage prior to becoming a carpenter’s apprentice at the age of sixteen. Throughout this time in his life he was a member of the Philomathean Institute, a Colored men’s literacy society and he was active in the Underground Railroad.

Mary Ann Shadd, Abolitionist, and Educator born

*On this date in 1823, Mary Ann Shadd Cary was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She was a Black educator and administrator.

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 […]

The American Baptist Home Mission Society is Founded

*On this date, in 1824, The American Baptist Home Mission Society was founded.  This Christian missionary society was founded during the Antebellum South era of America. Its main predecessor, the Home Mission Society, was established in New York City in 1832 to operate in the American frontier, with the stated mission “to preach the Gospel, establish churches and give support and ministry to the unchurched and destitute.” In the 19th century, […]

Aaron Mossell Sr., Abolitionist born

*Aaron Mossell Sr. was born on this date in 1824.  He was a Black abolitionist and laborer. From Baltimore, MD., Aaron Albert Mossell was the son of Peter and Catherine Mossell. He forced the desegregation of Lockport, New York, schools in 1876, eight decades before segregated schools were ruled unconstitutional. Eliza (Bowers) Mossell was his […]

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.

Paul Trévigne Jr., Newspaper Editor born

*Paul Trévigne Jr. was born on this date in 1825. He was a Black Creole newspaperman and civil rights activist. From New Orleans, Louisiana, he was the biracial son of Paul Trevigne, a veteran of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, and Josephine Marguerite Decoudreaux. Free men of color had served in the militia under French rule […]

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.