People, Locations, Episodes

Henry Blackwell, Abolitionist born

*Henry Blackwell was born on this date in 1825. He was a white-American abolitionist and advocate for women’s rights and social and economic reform. Henry Blackwell was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, the seventh of nine children of Samuel Blackwell and Hannah Lane Blackwell. In 1832, the family, including eight children and their father’s sister Mary, emigrated […]

Frances E. Watkins Harper, Poet, and Abolitionist born

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born on this date in 1825. She was a Black poet, writer, and lecturer, as well as an anti-slavery, women’s rights, and temperance activist.

Harper was from Baltimore, MD., where she attended Baltimore’s Academy for Negro Youth school. There she studied Greek, Latin, and the Bible. Writing poetry as a teenager, she started her career as a writer in 1845 by publishing the poetry collection, “Forest Leaves.”

John Rock, Lawyer, and Abolitionist born

*John Rock was born on this date in 1825.  He was a Black lawyer, teacher, and abolitionist.  From Salem County, New Jersey, at an early age, John Stewart Rock had an insatiable appetite for learning. Although his parents were poor, they committed to sending young Rock to school.  At eighteen, Rock began to teach at […]

William Howard Day, Editor, and Minister born

*On this date in 1825, William Day was born. He was a Black abolitionist, editor, educator and a minister.

Sarah Jane Early, Educator born

On this date in 1825, Sarah Jane Early was born. She was a Black teacher, abolitionist, and feminist.

Alexander G. Clark, Iowa Lawyer born

*Alexander G. Clark was born on this date in 1826. He was a Black laborer, barber, lawyer and activist.

He was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, to John Clark, a former slave, and Rebecca Darnes Clark. At 13, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to learn barbering from an uncle, who also made sure the boy was well-schooled in other areas. Clark left Cincinnati in October 1841, working for a few months as a bartender on the steamboat George Washington before arriving, at 16, in Muscatine (then called Bloomington, in Iowa Territory). It was May 22, 1842.

Sarah Remond, Abolitionist born

On this date in 1826, Sarah Parker Remond was born. She was a Black woman who was an abolitionist and one of the most articulate public speakers of her time.

She was born in Salem, MA, one of eight children. Although she had little schooling she educated herself by reading books, pamphlets, and newspapers borrowed from friends or purchased from the Anti-Slavery Society of her community. Her family and associates included many activists of the times, and Remond witnessed many of the effects of slavery and racism involving the Underground Railroad.

Ellen, and William Craft, Slaves Who Escaped to Freedom

The lives of Ellen and William Craft are celebrated on this date. They were two Black abolitionists who were known for William’s autobiographical slave narrative describing the couple’s dramatic escape from slavery.

John P. Parker, Abolitionist, and Inventor born

*On this date in 1827, we celebrate the birth of John P. Parker. He was a Black businessman and abolitionist.

Elizabeth Jennings Graham, Teacher born

*The birth of Elizabeth Jennings Graham is celebrated on this date in 1827.  She was a Black teacher, church organist, and civil rights figure.   Elizabeth Jennings was born free in New York City. Her parents, Thomas L. Jennings and his wife, born Elizabeth Cartwright, had three children. Their names were Matilda Jennings Thompson, Elizabeth […]

Emily Howland, Educator and Abolitionist born

*Emily Howland was born on this date in 1827.  She was a white-American philanthropist, abolitionist, and educator.   Emily Howland was born in Sherwood, Cayuga County, New York.  She was the daughter of Slocum and Hannah Tallcot Howland, who were prominent in the Society of Friends.  Her brother, William Howland, served in the 106th New […]

The African Dorcas Association Begins

*On this date in 1828, the African Dorcas Association was founded.  This was a Black women’s community aid society in New York City.   The women of this group sewed clothes for the Black children of the city so that they would have appropriate attire for school. They were also one of the first societies where “women met independently and without the supervision […]

Elizabeth Thorn Scott Flood, Educator born

*The birth of Elizabeth Thorn Scott Flood is celebrated on this date in 1828.  She was a 19th-century Black educator and activist.    Elizabeth Thorn was born a free woman in New York State. She received a good education in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and married her first husband, Joseph Scott.  In 1852, Elizabeth and her husband […]

Eliza Winston, Domestic Worker, and Abolitionist born

*The birth of Eliza Winston is celebrated on this date, c. 1830.  She was a Black slave from Mississippi who was freed from her owners while with them on vacation in Minnesota, a free state.  In the summer of 1860, Eliza Winston, an enslaved thirty-year-old woman, was taken to St. Anthony, Minnesota, by her owners, […]

Luís Gama, Journalist and Abolitionist born.

*Luís Gama was born on this date in 1830. He was an Afro Brazilian self-taught lawyer, abolitionist, orator, journalist, and writer. He was a black intellectual in 19th-century slave-owning Brazil who spent his life fighting for the abolition of slavery and for the end of the monarchy in Brazil. Luís Gonzaga Pinto da Gama was born in […]