*Henry Wilson was born on February 16, 1812. He was a White American political leader and abolitionist.
From Farmington, N.H., his birth name was Jeremiah Jones Colbath, and was legally changed in 1833. As a young man he operated a shoe factory at Natick, Mass., and attended the Strafford, Wolfsboro, and Concord Academies and taught school in Natick, Mass. He was elected to the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature in 1840. Wilson was an opponent of slavery, which caused him to leave the WHIG party.
learn more*Black History and Gerrymandering voting districts are affirmed on this date in 1812. The word appeared for the first time on this date in the Boston Gazette newspaper. Gerrymandering and its focus on voter suppression began with the passage of the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution. The return of Blacks to Congress after Reconstruction and their expansion in the fourth […]
learn more*The birth of John Horse is celebrated on this date, c. 1812. He was an African and Native American soldier who fought alongside the Seminoles in the Second Seminole War in Florida. John Horse was from the region called Micanopy in north central Florida. His father was the Seminole trader Charley Cavallo, and his […]
learn more*Black history and the War of 1812 are celebrated on this date in 1812. This was a conflict between England and the United States. Blacks fought on both sides though many fought for the same reason: freedom from chattel slavery. In the Revolutionary War, black and white patriots fought together, which helped convince many Northern states […]
learn more*The birth of Harry Island is celebrated on this date c 1812. He was a Black Creek Native American interpreter. From Muskogee, OK, little is known about his childhood; later in life, he was the husband of Maggie Cow Tom. He served as one of the official U.S. Interpreters with the Muskogee Creek Nation. He […]
learn more*William Tappan Thompson was born on this date in 1812. He was a white-American segregationist, journalist, and writer who promoted the Confederacy’s second national flag as “The White Man’s Flag.” Originally from Ohio, Thompson moved to Savannah, Georgia, where he co-founded the Daily Morning News and became an editor. Thompson left the paper in 1867 to travel to Europe. In 1868, […]
learn more*John Fremont was born on this date in 1813. He was a White American soldier, politician and abolitionist.
From Savannah, Georgia, educated at Charleston College, he taught mathematics before joining the Army Topographical Engineers Corps in 1838. Among other field services, in 1842 Fremont mapped most of the Oregon Trail and climbed the second highest peak in the Wind River Mountains, afterwards known as Fremont Peak. Fremont made many expeditions; in 1845 he explored the Great Basin and the Pacific coast.
learn more*Robert Bridges Forten was born on this date in 1813. He was a Black sailmaker, abolitionist, and Union Army soldier. He was the son of James Forten, abolitionist and co-founder of the Free African Society, and Charlotte Vandine. He was one of nine children educated privately due to segregation in Philadelphia area schools. Family, friends, and acquaintances considered young […]
learn more*The birth of Caesar Bruner is celebrated on this date in 1813. He was a Black Seminole Chief and interpreter. Born in Indian Territory as a free man, he was the son of William and Effie Bruner, both former slaves of Tom Bruner, who had manumitted them. He was born shortly after the arrival of […]
learn more*George Ashburn was born on this date in 1814. He was a 19th-century white white-American judge, Radical Republican, and Senate candidate. George W. Ashburn was born in North Carolina and moved to Georgia around 1830. He married Georgia Ryley in 1843. They had one daughter. He opposed the Secession of Georgia. During the American Civil War, he […]
learn more*The Negro Fort is celebrated on November 13, 1814. Also known as Fort Gadsden and the Prospect Bluff Historic Site, it is located in Franklin County, Florida. It was constructed on the Apalachicola River, 6 miles SW of Sumatra, Florida. The British built the site during the War of 1812. After the British evacuated Florida […]
learn more*Edwin McMasters Stanton was born on this date in 1814. He was a white-American lawyer and politician. The first of David and Lucy Stanton’s four children, Edwin McMasters, was born to them in Steubenville, Ohio. Edwin’s early formal education consisted of a private school and a seminary behind Stanton’s residence called “Old Academy.” When […]
learn more*On this date in 1815, The White House of the Confederacy was built. This is a historic house in the Court End neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. Built as the main executive residence of the sole President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, from August 1861 until April 1865. It was viewed as the Confederate States’ counterpart to the White House in Washington, D.C. The First […]
learn more*Edward J. Roye was born on this date in 1815. He was a Black businessman and politician.
Born in a little house on what is now Mount Vernon Road in Newark, Ohio, he was educated in Newark schools, but nothing much is known of his early years. In 1822, his father sold his Newark property and went to Illinois, leaving Edward and his mother behind. In 1829, his father left all his property acquired in Illinois to his son Edward. Young Roye became a barber and in 1832 he was enrolled in Ohio University in Athens.
learn more*Benjamin Hayes was born on this date in 1815. He was a white-American pioneer, lawyer, and judge. Benjamin Ignatius Hayes was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated from St. Mary’s University. On November 16th, 1848, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Emily Martha Chauncey of Harford County, Maryland, and in 1849 he “set out from Independence, […]
learn more