People, Locations, Episodes

Harriet Jacobs, Author, and Abolitionist born

*This date celebrates the birth of Harriet Jacobs in 1813. She was an Black abolitionist and author.

Sarah Forten Purvis, Poet born

*This date in 1814 is celebrated as the birth date of Sarah Forten Purvis, a Black poet and abolitionist. Sarah Louisa Forten was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the “Forten Sisters,” which included Harriet and Margaretta. Her mother was Charlotte Vandine Forten, and her father was the Black abolitionist James Forten. Her sisters were Harriet Forten Purvis and […]

Henry Bibb, Author, and Emigration Advocate born

This date marks the birth of Henry Bibb in 1815. He was a Black author, editor, abolitionist, and advocate of emigration from the United States.

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.

Ann Plato, Author, and Educator born

*The birth of Ann Plato around 1820 is celebrated on this date. She was a nineteenth century Black educator and author.

Plato was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Like many Blacks that lived in America during this time, there is very little information recorded about her. Most of what is known about Plato comes from the introduction in her book that was written by Reverend W.C. Pennington, pastor of the Colored Congregational Church of Hartford, who also called her “Platoess”.

James Whitfield, Poet born

*James Whitfield was born on this date in 1822.  He was a Black poet, abolitionist, and political activist.   James Monroe Whitfield was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, to Nancy (Paul) of Exeter and Joseph Whitfield, who escaped enslavement in Virginia.  Through his mother, he was the nephew of Rev. Thomas Paul of the African Meeting House in Boston, and Jude Hall, a veteran of the Revolutionary […]

Alexandre Dumas Fils, Playwright born

*Alexandre Dumas fils was born on this date in 1824. He was a Black French author and playwright. Dumas fils was born in Paris, France, the illegitimate quarteron child of Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay, a dressmaker, and novelist Alexandre Dumas. In 1831 his father legally recognized him and ensured that the young Dumas received the best education possible at the Institution Goubaux and the Collège […]

Harriet Wilson, Author born

*Harriet Wilson was born on this date in1825. She was a Black slave and author.

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.”

Maria Firmina dos Reis, Writer born

*Maria Firmina dos Reis was born on this date in 1825.  She was an Afro Brazilian teacher, author, and abolitionist.    Maria Firmina dos Reis was born in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil. “At age five, her mother and relatives moved to Viamão, where she attended school. In 1847, due to outstanding performance, she won a […]

James M. Bell, Poet, and Abolitionist born

*On this date in 1826 James Bell was born. He was a Black poet, laborer and abolitionist.

Frank Webb, Author, and Poet born

*Frank Webb was born on this date in 1828. He was a Black novelist, poet, and essayist. Francis Johnson Webb was born in Philadelphia. He was the fifth and youngest child of Francis Webb and Louisa Burr Webb. Webb had one brother, John, and three sisters, Elizabeth, Ann, and Mary. His parents and older siblings […]

Lucy Delaney, Writer born

The birth of Lucy Ann Delaney, a Black writer, in 1828 is celebrated on this date.

Lucy Ann Berry was born a slave in St. Louis, MO. She was determined to be free. Her older sister, Nancy had escaped to Canada to live in freedom; their mother, Polly Berry, had escaped and then secured her freedom in court on the grounds that she was a freeborn who had been kidnapped as a child. Berry was 12 years old when she escaped to Chicago, IL where her mother was living.

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 […]

Thomas Detter, Author born

*The birth of Thomas Detter is celebrated on this date in 1830.  He was a Black author and minister. Thomas Detter was born in Maryland and educated in Washington, D.C., public schools. According to his father’s will, he was to have been apprenticed as a shoemaker until his twenty-first birthday. Detter emigrated to San Francisco, […]