People, Locations, Episodes

Betsey Stockton, Teacher born

*This date in 1798 is celebrated as the birth date of Betsey Stockton, a Black domestic and teacher. Born into slavery in Princeton, New Jersey, as a child, her owner, Robert Stockton, gave her to his daughter upon her marriage to Reverend Ashbel Green. He was the president of the College of New Jersey (now […]

John Newton Templeton, Educator born

*The birth of John Newton Templeton is celebrated on this date in 1805. He was a Black teacher and principal. He was born on a cotton plantation in rural South Carolina, owned by Colonel John Means. At the age of eight, Templeton, along with his family, was freed by the will of his owner in […]

Clarina Nichols, Abolitionist born

*Clarina Nichols was born on this date in 1810.  She was a white-American journalist, lobbyist, and public speaker involved in temperance, abolition, and the women’s movement. Born in West Townshend, Vermont, into a prosperous New England family, Clarina Irene Howard fell on hard times after a disastrous early marriage. Supporting herself and her children on […]

Jane DeVeaux, Teacher, and Abolitionist born

*The birth of Jane A. DeVeaux is celebrated on this date in 1810. She was a Black mulatto teacher and abolitionist.  From Savanah, GA, she was the daughter of John Benjamin Deveaux (born into slavery) and Catherine Deveaux (a free woman from Antigua). Her father pastored the Third African Baptist Church in Savannah. She and her mother secretly taught […]

Samuel H. Davis, Minister, and Educator, born

*Samuel H. Davis was born on this date in 1810. He was a Black minister, teacher, and community leader. Davis was born in Temple Mills, Maine. Samuel, Sr., was born into slavery in 1782 in Lunenburg, New York, near the Hudson River, later known as Athens, in Greene County, NY. (4) His father’s father was […]

Édouard de Laboulaye, French Ambassador born

*Édouard de Laboulaye was born on this date in 1811.  He was a white-French jurist, poet, author, and anti-slavery activist.   Édouard René Lefèbvre de Laboulaye was born in Paris, France to a wealthy family.  Laboulaye was received at the bar in 1842 and was chosen professor of comparative law at the Collège de France in 1849.   A careful observer of […]

William Wells Brown, Writer and Abolitionist born.

William Wells Brown was born on this date in 1814. He was a Black antislavery lecturer, a groundbreaking novelist, a playwright, and a historian.

Brown was born on a plantation outside Lexington, KY, to a George Higgins, a white plantation owner and relative of the owner of the plantation where Brown was born, and an African slave mother.

Mrytilla Miner, Educator born

*Myrtilla Miner was born on this date in 1815.  She was a white-American educator and abolitionist.  From Brookfield, New York, Miner was educated at the Clover Street Seminary in Rochester, New York (1840–44), and taught at various schools, including the Newton Female Institute (1846–47) in Whitesville, Mississippi, where she was denied permission to conduct classes for Black girls. In 1851 Miner opened the Normal School […]

Richard Rust, Minister, and Writer born

*Richard Rust was born on this date in 1815.  He was a white-American Methodist preacher, abolitionist, educator, writer, and lecturer.  Richard Sutton Rust grew up in Ipswich, Massachusetts; he became orphaned at ten years old and went to live on his uncle’s farm. He attended Phillips Academy and became involved in anti-slavery activities. After hearing […]

John G. Fee Jr., Abolitionist, and Minister born

*John G. Fee Jr. was born on this date in 1816. He was a white-American abolitionist, minister, and educator. John Gregg Fee Jr. was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, the son of John Fee and Elizabeth Bradford, whose mother was a Quaker from Pennsylvania. His father inherited a bondsman who reached the term of his indenture. […]

William C. Nell, Black Historian born

William Cooper Nell, a Black lecturer, journalist, and historian was born on this date in 1816.

He was born in Boston to William and Louise Cooper. A frequent reader of William Lloyd Garrison’s, “Liberator,” Nell joined the antislavery movement and began working for the Liberator newspaper in the 1840s. At many of the antislavery functions in Boston, he was Garrison’s personal representative. He became active in the Underground Railroad, until ill health forced him to withdraw.

Elizabeth Keckley, Author, and Abolitionist born

On this date we remember the birth of Elizabeth Keckley in 1818. She was a Black domestic, author, and abolitionist.

Charles Reason, Mathematician born

*Charles L. Reason was born on this date in 1818. He was a Black mathematician, abolitionist and teacher.

William G. Allen, Academic born

*The birth of William G. Allen is celebrated on this date in ca. 1820. He was a Black academic, intellectual, and lecturer. William Gustavus Allen was born free in Urbana, Virginia, to a mixed-race mother and a Welsh-American father. He was a Quarteroon. His birth parents raised Allen in Norfolk, where he attended a school for […]

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 […]