People, Locations, Episodes

James Lewis, Soldier, and Politician born

*The birth of James Lewis is celebrated on this date in 1832. He was a Black soldier and Republican Party politician in Louisiana. James Lewis was born into slavery in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. His father was a white planter, his master, and his mother was an enslaved mulatto woman. He was raised in Bayou Sara, […]

Tippu Tip, Slave Trader born

*This date marks Independence Day for the African Country Zanzibar in 1961. We chose this date to affirm the birth of Tippu Tip circa 1832.  He was a Swahili Zanzibar slave owner and slave trader to European colonists.   It is believed that Tippu Tip was born in Zanzibar; his birth name was Hamad bin Muhammad bin […]

James M. Williams, Lawyer born

*James M. Williams was born on this date in 1833.  He was a white-American lawyer, soldier, and merchant.   James Monroe Williams was from Lowville (Lewis County), New York.  Before the start of the American Civil War, he was employed as a lawyer in his hometown.  On July 12, 1861, Williams entered the Union Army as a captain in the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment and […]

Ebenezer Bassett, Diplomat born

Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, a Black diplomat, was born on this date in 1833.

He was born in Litchfield, CT, he was also of Pequot Indian descent. Bassett was educated at the Connecticut Normal School and worked for 14 years as a teacher in Philadelphia. He was United States minister to Haiti from 1869 to 1879.

This appointment made Bassett the first black diplomat in America. He also became the Haitian consul in New York City. He was a great friend of Frederick Douglass and they exchanged correspondence in French for many years.

Alonzo Ransier, Politician born

On this date, Alonzo Jacob Ransier was born in 1834. He was an African American politician known for his honesty.

Born free in Charleston, South Carolina, he received a limited education, becoming a shipping clerk at the age of 16. After the Civil War, he was appointed as that state’s registrar of elections.

Ransier’s activity in gaining equality for Blacks was based on equal rights. He traveled to Washington with a petition from a Charleston meeting of the Friends of Equal Rights, pushing for more consideration for the rights of blacks.

Frederic Bartholdi, Artist, and Sculptor born

*Frederic Bartholdi was born on this date in 1834.  He was a white-French artist and sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty for France as a gift to the United States of America. Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was born in Colmar, France, to a family of Italian and German Protestant heritage.  Bartholdi was the youngest of […]

Thomas Chester, Lawyer, and Politician born

On this date we mark the birth of Thomas Chester in 1834, in Harrisburg, PA. He was an Black lawyer and editor.

Thomas Morris Chester was the son of a slave woman who had escaped from Baltimore in 1825 and thus her son was born free. His father was an oyster salesman and restaurant owner who was part of the inner circle of political and social functions of Harrisburg. Educated at Allegheny Institute, Chester became an abolitionist and colonizationist.

The American Whig Party, a story

*On this election day in 1834, we celebrate the beginning of the Whig Party in the United States. This was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century. Alongside the Democratic Party, it was one of the two major parties during the late 1830s, the 1840s, and the early 1850s, part of the period some scholars describe as the Second […]

George Ruffin, Businessman born

*George Ruffin was born on this date in 1834.  He was a Black business owner, attorney, and judge.  George Lewis Ruffin was from Richmond, Virginia, the son of free Blacks.  He was educated in Boston, Massachusetts, and soon became a force in the city’s civic leadership.  After marrying Josephine St. Pierre, Ruffin supported his family by working as a barber.  The […]

Hannibal Carter, Soldier born

*The birth of Hannibal C. Carter is celebrated on this date in 1835.  He was a Black soldier, abolitionist, and politician.   Carter was born in New Albany, Indiana, then moved to Toronto, Canada, for his early childhood.  He and his brother were sons of George Washington Carter.  Although the exact date is unclear, sometime […]

King Leopold II, Monarch, and Tyrant born

*King Leopold II was born on this date in 1835.  He was a white-European Monarch, the second King of Belgium from 1865 to 1909.  Born Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor in Brussels as the second but eldest surviving son of Leopold I and Louise of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the Belgian throne in […]

Silas Jefferson, Black Creek Soldier born

*The birth of Silas Jefferson in 1835 is celebrated on this date. He was an African, Native soldier and politican of the Creek Tribe in America.

Born at Taskigi Town (or Tuskegee) in the Old Creek Nation. His parents were Betsey and Jeffery Manac (McNac).  Also known as Ho-tul-ko-micco “Wind Clan chief”, Jefferson migrated with his parents to the Creek lands in the Indian Territory in 1838. During the Civil War he enlisted in the First Indian Home Guard Regiment (Co. I).

The Texas Revolution, a story

*The Texas Revolution began on this date in 1835. This conflict was a rebellion of white and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) in armed resistance to the centralist government of Mexico. The revolution began after a decade of political and cultural clashes between the Mexican government and Texas’s increasingly large population of white-American settlers. Mexico officially abolished […]

Jefferson Long, Georgia Politician born

On this day in 1836, Jefferson Franklin Long, a Black tailor, storekeeper, politician, and educator, was born.

Caesar Antoine, Soldier, and Businessman born

*Caesar Antoine was born on this date in 1836. He was a Black soldier, businessman, editor, and politician. Caesar Carpentier Antoine was born a Creole-free man of color in New Orleans. His father, Pedro Antoine, was a veteran of the Battle of New Orleans, and his mother, Mary Gasso, was a native of the West Indies. His paternal […]