People, Locations, Episodes

The Butler Island Plantation is Established

*The Butler Island Plantation was affirmed on this date in 1790. This estate is a former rice plantation located on Butler Island on the Altamaha River delta just South of Darien, Georgia. Major Pierce Butler, a founding father of the United States and a supporter of slavery, owned the property in 1790. He ran the […]

The Brown Fellowship Society is Formed

*The Brown Fellowship Society was founded on this date in 1790. They were an African American self-help organization. They were founded in Charleston, South Carolina, and its motto was “Charity and Benevolence.”  It was founded by five free nonwhites who attended St. Philip’s Episcopal Church: James Mitchell, George Bampfield, William Cattel, George Bedon, and Samuel […]

The First Haitian Slave Revolt Occurs

On this date in 1791, the first slave revolt in Haiti took place.

The island was settled in the 1600s by French buccaneers. In 1664, the newly established French West India Company took control ofthe colony, and named it named Saint-Domingue. France formally claimed control of the western portion of the island of Hispaniola., and later, France named its newly colonized island Saint Domingue in early 1700s.

Freetown (Sierra Leone) is Founded

*On this date, in 1792, Freetown, Sierra Leone, was founded.  Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. Freetown was founded by abolitionist John Clarkson as a settlement for freed Afro Caribbean and enslaved Africans in America. Like many African countries, they fell into colonization by Europe because of the Berlin Conference of 1884. It is a […]

Denmark Abolishes Slavery

On this date in 1792, Denmark abolished slavery. Denmark was the first established sovereign European state to prohibit the slave trade (but not slavery: that honor rests with Vermont, which abolished slavery in 1777).

Brom & Brett v. Ashley is Ruled

*On this date in 1792, Brom & Brett v. Ashley was decided.  This was the first legal decision against American slavery, ordering John Ashley, a white-American slave owner, to release black servants Mum Brett  (Elizabeth Freeman) and Brom (a Negro man) from bondage.   When the case was tried in August 1781 before the County Court of Common Pleas […]

The 1793 Fugitive Slave Act Is Signed

*The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was signed into law on this date.   This was an Act of the United States Congress to give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the US Constitution (Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3), which the Thirteenth Amendment later superseded. The former guaranteed a right for a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave. The […]

France Abolishes Slavery

*On this date in 1794 France abolished slavery. As a nation they had a lukewarm commitment to abolition. Under Napoleon they reestablished slavery in 1802 along with the reinstitution of the “Code noir”, prohibiting Blacks, mulattoes and other people of color from entering French colonial territory or intermarrying with whites.

These orders carried out by General Antoine Richepance brutally reinstituted slavery in the French Antilles in 1802. Thousands of people of color were killed in Guadeloupe alone as they fought to retain their freedom.

The Slave Trade Act of 1794 is Passed

*The Slave Trade Act of 1794 was passed on this date in 1794. This law passed by the United States Congress prohibited American ships from engaging in the international slave trade. It was signed into law by President George Washington and was the first of several anti-slavery trade acts of Congress. In 1800, Congress strengthened […]

The Boston African Society is Established

*On this date in1796 the Boston African Society was established. Started with forty-four members, they were a group of Blacks that provided a form of health insurance and funeral benefits, as well as spiritual brotherhood, to its members.

The Bahian Conspiracy Begins

*On this date, in 1798, the Bahian Conspiracy was declared.  Also known as the Revolt of the Tailors (after the occupation of many of the leaders), it was a late eighteenth-century African slave rebellion in Bahia, in the State of Brazil. This separatist movement had a popular base and extensive Afro Brazilian participation.  The objective of the rebelling baianos was proposing to liberate the […]

The Slave Trade Act of 1800 is Passed

*On this date in 1800, the Slave Trade Act of 1800 was passed. It was signed into law by President John Adams and was among several acts of Congress that eventually outlawed the importation of enslaved people to the United States. The United States Congress enacted this to build upon the Slave Trade Act of […]

Nigger (the word), a story

On this date, we look at the history of word “nigger” in America, a word that still sits at the center of anti-Black verbal distortions.

*Note: some of the content in this writing may be offensive to children.

Freedmen, and Freedwomen in America, an article

*The term Freedmen or Freedwomen from 1800 is briefly described on this date.  By definition, they are formerly enslaved persons who have been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed either by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners) or emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group). A fugitive slave is a person who escaped slavery.   During the Middle Passage and […]

Haiti Gains its Independence From France

On this date in 1804, Haiti emerged as the first independent Black-led republic in the modern (western) world.

The Haitian Revolution was one of the most successful slave rebellions in history. Having shed the burden of slavery and French colonial rule, the revolutionaries of Haiti (formerly Saint-Domingue) inspired people of African descent around the world, particularly those who remained in slavery.