| Timeline for Slavery and Abolition |
| 1644 |
| (03/25)
|
The first group manumission in North America: 11 blacks successful petition the government of New Amsterdam for their freedom. (Digital History ID 1785)
|
| 1646 |
| (11/04)
|
Massachusetts Bay Colony declares two Africans free and orders their return to Africa at public expense. (Digital History ID 755)
|
| 1663 |
| (09/13)
|
The first recorded slave conspiracy in American colonies surfaces in Gloucester County, Va. (Digital History ID 1583)
|
| 1688 |
| (02/18)
|
In the first known public protest against the institution of slavery in the American colonies, Quakers in Germantown Pennsylvania adopt resolutions against slavery. (Digital History ID 1325)
|
| (02/18)
|
The German Mennonite Revolution Against Slavery passes, the first formal anti-slavery protest in colonial America. (Digital History ID 729)
|
| 1712 |
| (04/06)
|
The maiden Lane rebellion takes place in New York City. The slaves gather at night and set fire on a building on Maiden Lane near Broadway. While the white colonists try to put out the fire, the slaves attack them and ran off. The aftermath is 70 blacks are arrested and put in jail, 21 of them are brutally executed. (Digital History ID 1329)
|
| (04/07)
|
The Maiden Lane slave rebellion occurs in New York City. (Digital History ID 1741)
|
| 1713 |
| (01/31)
|
Anthony Benezet, a pioneering Quaker abolitionist, is born in St. Quentin, Northern France. His family are Huguenots and they emigate to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1731. (Digital History ID 1219)
|
| 1731 |
| (11/09)
|
Benjamin Banneker, the black scientist and inventor, is born. He is the son of an African free slave named Roberts and Mary Banneky, the daughter of an English woman and a free African slave. (Digital History ID 748)
|
| 1732 |
| (06/20)
|
The colony of Georgia is founded with a prohibition on slavery. (Digital History ID 1679)
|
| 1748 |
| (09/12)
|
Price Hall, a black leader in Boston and founder of the first black Masonic lodge, is born. (Digital History ID 1584)
|
| 1749 |
| (01/10)
|
The colony of Georgia ends its prohibition of slavery. (Digital History ID 1818)
|
| 1750 |
| (09/30)
|
Crispus Attucks, the first man killed in Boston Massacre in a rebel against British soldiers in 1768, escapes from slavery in Framingham, Mass. aboard a whaling ship. (Digital History ID 809)
|
| 1753 |
| (07/06)
|
The National Council of Colored People is founded in Rochester, N.Y. (Digital History ID 1660)
|
| 1755 |
| (03/27)
|
Rufus King, an anti-slavery senator, is born in Scarborough, which was then a part of Massachusetts but is now in the state of Maine. He was a son of Sabilla Blagden and Richard King, a prosperous farmer-merchant. (Digital History ID 1787)
|
| 1758 |
| (09/29)
|
The Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia Quakers adopts a ban on members participating in the slave trade. (Digital History ID 810)
|
| 1759 |
| (01/17)
|
The black sea captain Paul Cuffe, a Quaker businessman, patriot, abolitionist and pioneer in colonization, is born. He is of Aquinnah Wampanoag and African Ashanti descent. His father is Cuffe Slocum, a freed slave and his mother is Ruth Moses, a member of the Wampanoag Nation. (Digital History ID 1826)
|
| 1766 |
| (09/02)
|
James Forten, a Revolutionary War soldier, wealthy businessman and abolitionist, is born. (Digital History ID 1595)
|
| 1767 |
| (07/11)
|
John Quincy Adams, the 6th president and an anti-slavery congressman, is born to John Adams and Abigail Adams in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts. (Digital History ID 1655)
|
| 1770 |
| (03/05)
|
Crispus Attucks is killed in the Boston Massacre. (Digital History ID 1662)
|
| 1772 |
| (06/09)
|
Black patriots join in the burning of the British ship, Gaspee, in Providence, R.I. (Digital History ID 1691)
|
| 1775 |
| (04/15)
|
Founding of Society for the Relief of the Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first American abolition society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Digital History ID 1944)
|
| (04/19)
|
Black patriots are among those fighting in the battles of Lexington and Concord. (Digital History ID 1761)
|
| (10/24)
|
General John Thomas asserts blacks' right to serve in the military. (Digital History ID 767)
|
| (11/07)
|
Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, promises freedom to slaves who join loyalist forces in the Revolution. (Digital History ID 752)
|
| 1776 |
| (01/16)
|
The Continental Congress approves the reenlistment of black soldiers. (Digital History ID 1825)
|
| (04/06)
|
The Continental Congress suspends the slave trade. (Digital History ID 1739)
|
| (09/09)
|
George Washington writes to friend John F. Mercer: "It is among my first wishes to see…slavery…abolished by slow, sure, and imperceptible degrees." (Digital History ID 1588)
|
| (09/14)
|
Massachusetts bars the sale of blacks captured in the Revolutionary War. (Digital History ID 1582)
|
| 1777 |
| (01/13)
|
Massachusetts slaves petition the legislature for their freedom. (Digital History ID 1821)
|
| (07/02)
|
Vermont becomes the first jurisdiction to abolish slavery. (Digital History ID 1665)
|
| 1778 |
| (06/10)
|
The Rhode Island General Assembly suspends military enlistment of enslaved blacks, but more press to join. (Digital History ID 1690)
|
| 1779 |
| (04/29)
|
Myron Holley, an abolitionist and a founder of the Liberty Party, is born to Luther Holley and Sarah Dakin Holley. (Digital History ID 1754)
|
| 1780 |
| (02/10)
|
Blacks of Dartmouth, Mass., led by Paul Cuffe, petition against "taxation without representation" and refuse to pay taxes. (Digital History ID 1772)
|
| (03/01)
|
Pennsylvania passes Emancipation Act. (Digital History ID 1618)
|
| (03/01)
|
Pennsylvania passes An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, also known as Emancipation Act. (Digital History ID 597)
|
| 1781 |
| (08/22)
|
In Brown and Bett v. Ashley, a Massachusetts judge rules that the state constitution "free and equal clause applies to blacks. (Digital History ID 1609)
|
| 1782 |
| (05/20)
|
The black patriot Deborah Sampson Garnett enlists in the Continental Army disguised as a man. (Digital History ID 1714)
|
| 1783 |
| (07/08)
|
The Massachusetts Supreme Court declares slavery unconstitutional in Commonwealth v. Jennison. (Digital History ID 1657)
|
| (09/22)
|
Lemuel Hayes becomes first African-American ordained a congregational minister. (Digital History ID 2117)
|
| 1784 |
| (01/08)
|
The Connecticut Legislature approves a gradual emancipation plan. (Digital History ID 1815)
|
| (04/23)
|
The Continental Congress prohibits slavery in the Northwest Territory. (Digital History ID 522)
|
| (05/05)
|
Black Methodists form their own church in Philadelphia. (Digital History ID 1731)
|
| (10/23)
|
Virginia emancipates slaves who fought in the Revolutionary War. (Digital History ID 768)
|
| (12/05)
|
The African American poet, Phillis Wheatley, dies. (Digital History ID 717)
|
| 1785 |
| (01/25)
|
The New York State Anti-Slavery Society is founded (Digital History ID 1835)
|
| (03/16)
|
Rufus King proposes a ban on slavery in western U.S. territories. (Digital History ID 1775)
|
| 1786 |
| (11/14)
|
The Virginia legislature emancipates Caesar Tarrant for his naval service during the Revolutionary War. (Digital History ID 742)
|
| 1787 |
| (04/12)
|
The Free African Society is formed in Philadelphia. (Digital History ID 1748)
|
| (07/13)
|
The Continental Congress bans slavery north of the Ohio River. (Digital History ID 1653)
|
| (07/13)
|
The Confederation Congress adopts the Northwest Ordinance, which states that Congress would create three to five states in the Northwest Territory, which would be equals with the older states. The measure also bars slavery from territory. (Digital History ID 1397)
|
| (08/28)
|
The Constitutional Convention debates the fugitive slave clause. (Digital History ID 1601)
|
| (10/17)
|
Boston blacks petition for equal schools. (Digital History ID 775)
|
| (11/01)
|
The African Free School opens in New York City. (Digital History ID 758)
|
| 1788 |
| (01/20)
|
The first African Baptist church is founded in Savannah, Ga. (Digital History ID 1830)
|
| (05/23)
|
The abolitionist Lewis Tappan is born. His father is Benjamin Tappan and his mother is Sarah (Homes) Tappan, who is a grandniece of Benjamin Franklin. (Digital History ID 1711)
|
| 1789 |
| (01/04)
|
Benjamin Lundy, editor of the Genius of Universal Emancipation, is born in Hardwick, Sussex County, New Jersey. (Digital History ID 1810)
|
| (02/03)
|
Delaware outlaws the slave trade (Digital History ID 783)
|
| (09/08)
|
The Maryland Abolition Society is founded by the Methodists and the Quakers. It lobbies the legislature for humane treatment to slaves and abolition. The society successfully achieves the repeal of the 1753 law which prohibited a slave owner from voluntarily manumitting his slaves. (Digital History ID 1589)
|
| (10/28)
|
Levi Coffin, the Quaker "president" of the Underground Railroad, is born. (Digital History ID 763)
|
| 1790 |
| (03/08)
|
The Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery petitions Congress to end slavery. (Digital History ID 1707)
|
| (03/23)
|
Benjamin Franklin publishes a satiric attack on slavery. (Digital History ID 1782)
|
| 1792 |
| (02/04)
|
James G. Birney, Liberty Party presidential candidate, is born. (Digital History ID 786)
|
| (04/04)
|
Thaddeus Stevens, anti-slavery politician, is born in Danville, Vermont to Joshua Stevens and Sally (Morill) Stevens. (Digital History ID 1737)
|
| (08/29)
|
Revivalist Charles Grandison Finney is born in Warren, Connecticut. He is the youngest of fifteen children. (Digital History ID 1600)
|
| (11/26)
|
Sarah Moore Grimke, abolitionist and women's rights advocate, is born in South Carolina. She is the daughter of Mary and John Faucheraud Grimké, a rich plantation owner who is also an attorney and a judge in South Carolina. (Digital History ID 727)
|
| 1793 |
| (01/03)
|
Lucretia Coffin Mott, abolitionist and women's rights advocate, is born into a Quaker family in Nantucket, Massachusetts. She is the second child of seven by Thomas Coffin and Anna Folger. (Digital History ID 1809)
|
| (02/12)
|
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 becomes law. (Digital History ID 1805)
|
| (03/14)
|
Eli Whitney obtains a patent for the cotton gin. (Digital History ID 1773)
|
| (12/19)
|
Georgia prohibits the importation of slaves. (Digital History ID 1221)
|
| 1794 |
| (03/22)
|
Congress prohibits American shipping from involvement in the international slave trade. (Digital History ID 1781)
|
| (03/22)
|
Congress prohibits Americans from taking part in the international slave trade. (Digital History ID 815)
|
| 1796 |
| (05/04)
|
Horace Mann, an American education reformer, and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1827 to 1833, is born in Franklin, Massachusetts. (Digital History ID 1732)
|
| 1799 |
| (07/04)
|
New York implements gradual emancipation. (Digital History ID 1663)
|
| (07/09)
|
George Washington drafts his will, freeing his slaves upon his wife's death. (Digital History ID 1658)
|
| 1800 |
| (01/02)
|
Free blacks in Philadelphia petition Congress to end slavery. (Digital History ID 1808)
|
| (05/09)
|
John Brown is born. (Digital History ID 1726)
|
| (10/02)
|
Nat Turner, the slave rebellion leader, is born. (Digital History ID 804)
|
| (10/07)
|
Slave rebellion leader Gabriel is executed in Richmond, Va. (Digital History ID 798)
|
| 1802 |
| (01/18)
|
Congress defeats an amendment to the 1793 Fugitive Slave Law requiring blacks seeking jobs to show certificates of freedom. (Digital History ID 1828)
|
| (02/11)
|
Lydia Maria Francis Child, abolitionist and women's rights advocate, is born. (Digital History ID 1783)
|
| (11/09)
|
The abolitionist and editor Elijah P. Lovejoy is born. (Digital History ID 749)
|
| 1803 |
| (11/23)
|
Abolitionist Theodore Weld is born. (Digital History ID 732)
|
| 1805 |
| (02/20)
|
Angelina Emily Grimke, the abolitionist and women's rights advocate, is born. (Digital History ID 751)
|
| (08/08)
|
The African Baptist Church is founded in Boston. (Digital History ID 1624)
|
| (12/10)
|
Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison is born. (Digital History ID 712)
|
| 1806 |
| (07/25)
|
Abolitionist Maria Weston Chapman is born. (Digital History ID 1639)
|
| 1807 |
| (03/02)
|
Congress prohibits the importation of slaves effective January 1, 1808. (Digital History ID 1629)
|
| (12/17)
|
The poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier is born. (Digital History ID 1223)
|
| 1808 |
| (01/01)
|
The importation of slaves into the United States is outlawed. (Digital History ID 1549)
|
| 1809 |
| (02/12)
|
Abraham Lincoln is born. (Digital History ID 1794)
|
| (11/17)
|
Abolitionist Stephen S. Foster is born. (Digital History ID 738)
|
| 1810 |
| (01/15)
|
Abolitionist and women's rights activist Abigail Kelley Foster is born. (Digital History ID 1823)
|
| (08/24)
|
Abolitionist clergyman Theodore Parker is born. (Digital History ID 1606)
|
| (10/19)
|
Kentucky abolitionist Cassius Clay is born. (Digital History ID 772)
|
| 1811 |
| (01/06)
|
Charles Sumner, antislavery Senator from Massachusetts, is born. (Digital History ID 1812)
|
| (02/03)
|
Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, is born. (Digital History ID 785)
|
| (06/14)
|
Author Harriet Beecher Stowe is born. (Digital History ID 1686)
|
| (11/29)
|
Abolitionist Wendell Phillips is born. (Digital History ID 724)
|
| 1813 |
| (06/24)
|
The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher is born. (Digital History ID 1675)
|
| 1816 |
| (04/09)
|
The National African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church is founded (Digital History ID 1743)
|
| (12/20)
|
William C. Nell, black author and abolitionist, is born. (Digital History ID 792)
|
| (12/21)
|
The American Colonization Society is founded. (Digital History ID 790)
|
| 1817 |
| (01/15)
|
Black Philadelphians reject a colonization plan. (Digital History ID 1824)
|
| (06/23)
|
Abolitionist John Jay III is born. (Digital History ID 1676)
|
| 1818 |
| (08/13)
|
Lucy Stone, the abolitionist and women's rights activist, is born. (Digital History ID 1619)
|
| 1819 |
| (02/05)
|
Robert Carter, abolitionist writer, is born. (Digital History ID 787)
|
| 1820 |
| (02/06)
|
86 blacks set sail for Africa aboard the Mayflower of Liberia in a colonization effort. (Digital History ID 788)
|
| (02/15)
|
In the U.S. Senate, Sen. Rufus King condemns slavery as contrary to natural law. (Digital History ID 1215)
|
| (03/03)
|
Under the provisions of the Compromise of 1820, Maine is admitted as a free state and Missouri as a slave state and slavery is excluded from the northern half of the Louisiana Purchase. (Digital History ID 611)
|
| (05/15)
|
Congress declares the international slave trade piracy punishable by death. (Digital History ID 1720)
|
| 1822 |
| (07/26)
|
Denmark Vesey and his followers are executed in South Carolina as insurrectionists. (Digital History ID 1638)
|
| (07/26)
|
Denmark Vesey's slave conspiracy is discovered; Vesey and others hanged.
Learn more... (Digital History ID 436)
|
| 1823 |
| (10/09)
|
Abolitionist and editor Mary Ann Shadd Cary is born. (Digital History ID 796)
|
| 1827 |
| (03/10)
|
Mexico prohibits the introduction of slaves into Texas. (Digital History ID 1740)
|
| (03/16)
|
John B. Russworm and John Cornish publish Freedom’s Journal, the first African American newspaper. (Digital History ID 699)
|
| (03/30)
|
Freedom's Journal, the first newspaper published by blacks, is founded. (Digital History ID 1790)
|
| 1828 |
| (01/22)
|
On the floor of the U.S. Congress, Rep. Henry Martindale lauds black military service in the Revolutionary War. (Digital History ID 1832)
|
| (03/28)
|
The anti-slavery journal, Rights of All, is first published. (Digital History ID 1788)
|
| (08/11)
|
William Lloyd Garrison says the purpose of anti-slavery societies is to "unite the moral strength of the country." (Digital History ID 1621)
|
| 1829 |
| (09/28)
|
David Walker's militant Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World is published and calls for the overthrow of the slave system. (Digital History ID 1567)
|
| 1830 |
| (09/15)
|
The first national convention of free blacks debates leaving the United States for Canada. (Digital History ID 1581)
|
| (11/30)
|
The American Society of Free Persons of Color is founded. (Digital History ID 723)
|
| 1831 |
| (01/01)
|
William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing the militant antislavery newspaper The Liberator. On the first page of the first issue, Garrison defiantly declared: “I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—and I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.” (Digital History ID 1550)
|
| (01/01)
|
William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first issue of the Liberator, the first antislavery newspaper to call for immediate abolition. (Digital History ID 1806)
|
| (01/01)
|
William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing the militant antislavery newspaper The Liberator. On the first page of the first issue, Garrison defiantly declared: “I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—and I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.”
Learn more... (Digital History ID 290)
|
| (03/26)
|
The Reverend Richard Allen dies. (Digital History ID 1786)
|
| (06/06)
|
The first annual convention of Free Persons of Color meets in Philadelphia. (Digital History ID 1694)
|
| (08/21)
|
Nat Turner's rebellion begins in Southampton County, Va. (Digital History ID 1610)
|
| (08/21)
|
Nat Turner leads about 70 slaves in an insurrection in Southampton County, Virginia, in which about 57 whites were killed. (Digital History ID 1437)
|
| (09/24)
|
The Liberator publishes the first proposal for the use of "African-American" as a term for blacks. (Digital History ID 1571)
|
| (10/30)
|
Slave rebellion leader Nat Turner is captured in Virginia. (Digital History ID 760)
|
| (11/11)
|
Nat Turner, who led about 70 slaves in a violent insurrection in which about 57 whites were killed, is executed in Virginia. Altogether, approximately 100 slaves were killed when the uprising was suppressed and another 20 were executed following trials. (Digital History ID 646)
|
| (11/11)
|
Nat Turner, leader of a slave insurrection, is executed. (Digital History ID 745)
|
| 1832 |
| (01/06)
|
The New England Anti-Slavery Society is founded. (Digital History ID 1813)
|
| (01/14)
|
A shipload of former slaves, sponsored by the American Colonization Society, arrives in Liberia (Digital History ID 1822)
|
| (01/25)
|
The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society is founded. (Digital History ID 1836)
|
| (02/22)
|
The Salem, Mass. Female Anti-Slavery Society is founded, the first such organization founded by black women. (Digital History ID 784)
|
| (07/01)
|
The Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society is founded. (Digital History ID 1666)
|
| (09/07)
|
William Lloyd Garrison declares: "without the organization of abolitionists into society, the cause will be lost." (Digital History ID 1590)
|
| (09/21)
|
Maria Stewart attacks slavery in the first public lecture by an African American woman. (Digital History ID 1575)
|
| 1833 |
| (04/01)
|
Prudence Crandall opens a school for African American girls in Connecticut. (Digital History ID 1793)
|
| (04/10)
|
The Tallmade (Ohio) Anti-Slavery Society is founded, the first in the Northwest Territory. (Digital History ID 1745)
|
| (10/02)
|
The first meeting of the New York Anti-Slavery Society is held. (Digital History ID 805)
|
| (10/14)
|
The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society is founded. (Digital History ID 778)
|
| (11/18)
|
The first Maine Anti-Slavery Society is founded in Hallowell. (Digital History ID 737)
|
| (12/04)
|
The American Anti-Slavery Society is founded in Philadelphia and pledges "immediate emancipation without expatriation." (Digital History ID 719)
|
| (12/09)
|
The Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society is founded by black and white women. (Digital History ID 713)
|
| 1834 |
| (04/30)
|
The Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society adopts its constitution. (Digital History ID 1753)
|
| (07/07)
|
New York blacks celebrate Emancipation Day. (Digital History ID 1659)
|
| (07/10)
|
Lewis Tappan's home in New York City is sacked by an anti-abolitionist mob. (Digital History ID 1656)
|
| 1835 |
| (03/18)
|
The Kentucky Anti-Slavery Society is founded. (Digital History ID 1777)
|
| (04/22)
|
The Ohio State Anti-Slavery Society is founded. (Digital History ID 1765)
|
| (07/14)
|
Amos Dresser is whipped publicly for distributing abolitionist literature. (Digital History ID 1652)
|
| (07/29)
|
Charleston, S.C. postmaster Alfred Huger bars delivery of anti-slavery mailings. (Digital History ID 1635)
|
| (08/31)
|
Prompted by rising abolitionist activity, defenders of slavery meet in Boston. (Digital History ID 1598)
|
| (09/10)
|
Anti-abolition mob erects gallows outside William Lloyd Garrison's home in Boston. (Digital History ID 1587)
|
| (10/21)
|
William Lloyd Garrison narrowly escapes lynching in Boston. (Digital History ID 770)
|
| (11/20)
|
A committee of vigilance is founded in New York City to protect African Americans from slave catchers. (Digital History ID 735)
|
| (12/11)
|
Beriah Green congratulates Gerrit Smith on his recent conversion to abolition. (Digital History ID 711)
|
| (12/16)
|
Main Representative John Fairfiled petitions Congress to abolish slavery in Washington, D.C. (Digital History ID 1224)
|
| (12/20)
|
South Carolina passes resolution asking other states to suppress anti-slavery societies. (Digital History ID 791)
|
| 1836 |
| (04/11)
|
William Lloyd Garrison protests Arkansas's admission to the Union as a slave state. (Digital History ID 1747)
|
| (05/26)
|
The House of Representatives passes the "Gag Rule," tabling petitions dealing with slavery. (Digital History ID 1706)
|
| (06/08)
|
Aaron W. Kitchell is tarred and feathered by a Georgia mob for inciting slaves. (Digital History ID 1692)
|
| (08/01)
|
A mob attacks abolitionist James Birney's newspaper office in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Digital History ID 1632)
|
| (10/27)
|
Henrietta Ray, a black abolitionist in New York City, dies. (Digital History ID 764)
|
| (11/28)
|
The Vermont anti-slavery newspaper The State Journal ceases publication. (Digital History ID 725)
|
| 1837 |
| (10/10)
|
Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, is born. (Digital History ID 794)
|
| (10/26)
|
The Illinois State Anti-Slavery Society is founded. (Digital History ID 765)
|
| (12/15)
|
The Liberator proclaims its mission: "to redeem woman as well as man from a servile to an equal Condition." (Digital History ID 1225)
|
| 1838 |
| (05/17)
|
Pennsylvania Hall, site of the second Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, is burned by a pro-slavery mob. (Digital History ID 1717)
|
| (08/12)
|
Maryland slave Frederick Bailey (later Frederick Douglass) resolves to escape from bondage. (Digital History ID 1620)
|
| (09/03)
|
Frederick Bailey (later Frederick Douglass) reaches Philadelphia in his flight from slavery. (Digital History ID 1594)
|
| (09/06)
|
The American Free Produce Association is formed in Philadelphia to boycott products of slave labor. (Digital History ID 1591)
|
| (09/19)
|
Escaped slave Frederick Bailey renames himself Frederick Douglass. (Digital History ID 1577)
|
| (11/19)
|
The Adelphic Library Association is founded to serve Boston's black community. (Digital History ID 736)
|
| 1839 |
| (02/19)
|
The Ohio House passes a fugitive slave law in support of Kentucky slave owners. (Digital History ID 740)
|
| (02/25)
|
John Quincy Adams proposes a constitutional amendment against slavery. (Digital History ID 1574)
|
| (03/12)
|
Frederick Douglass denounces colonization at a meeting in New Bedford, Mass. (Digital History ID 1762)
|
| (05/02)
|
James Birney, a former slave owner, publishes Letter on the Political Obligations of an Abolitionist. (Digital History ID 1734)
|
| (07/31)
|
John Quincy Adams predicts privately that slavery will lead to civil war. (Digital History ID 1633)
|
| (08/26)
|
The Amistad is seized by U.S. officials off Long Island, N.Y. (Digital History ID 1603)
|
| (11/13)
|
The Liberty Party holds its first national convention in Albany, N.Y. (Digital History ID 743)
|
| (12/12)
|
Charles Stuard Weld, abolitionist and son of Theodore and Angelina Grimke Weld, is born. (Digital History ID 1229)
|
| 1840 |
| (04/24)
|
William Lloyd Garrison urges the World's Anti-Slavery Convention to recognize women as "equal beings." (Digital History ID 1767)
|
| (04/28)
|
The American Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention first meets. (Digital History ID 1755)
|
| (06/12)
|
The World Anti-Slavery Convention opens in London. (Digital History ID 1688)
|
| (06/18)
|
William Lloyd Garrison sits in a gallery to protest exclusion of women at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. (Digital History ID 1681)
|
| (07/21)
|
Christian Abraham Fleetwood, a black Civil War hero and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, is born. (Digital History ID 1644)
|
| (07/27)
|
William Lloyd Garrison predicts that slavery will ultimately "be destroyed by the genius of republicanism." (Digital History ID 1637)
|
| (10/12)
|
Abolitionist James Birney asks the Archbishop of Canterbury to urge the American Episcopal churches to turn against slavery. (Digital History ID 780)
|
| (11/11)
|
John Quincy Adams agrees to serve as co-counsel for the Amistad defendants. (Digital History ID 746)
|
| 1841 |
| (01/21)
|
The Portland (Maine) Anti-Slavery Society is founded. (Digital History ID 1831)
|
| (03/09)
|
U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Amistad captives should be freed. (Digital History ID 1718)
|
| (03/09)
|
The Supreme Court frees the Amistad rebels, who had been enslaved in violation of international treaty, had rebelled aboard the Spanish ship the Amistad in 1839, and had subsequently been charged with murder and piracy. (Digital History ID 680)
|
| (08/09)
|
Frederick Douglass hears William Lloyd Garrison speak for the first time in Bristol, Mass. (Digital History ID 1623)
|
| (08/16)
|
Frederick Douglass gives his first public speech to a white audience in Nantucket, Mass. (Digital History ID 1615)
|
| (10/15)
|
The Liberator reports racially-motivated eviction of Frederick Douglass from a train in Massachusetts. (Digital History ID 777)
|
| (10/27)
|
American slaves mutiny on the ship Creole, which was carrying them from Virginia to New Orleans and force the ship to travel to the Bahamas, where Britain has outlawed slavery. (Digital History ID 1107)
|
| (11/27)
|
Thirty-five survivors of L'Amistad, now free, embark for Africa. (Digital History ID 726)
|
| 1842 |
| (01/28)
|
5,000 attend an abolition rally in Boston. (Digital History ID 1217)
|
| (02/17)
|
The Liberty Party holds its third annual convention in Boston. (Digital History ID 718)
|
| (04/15)
|
Former Amistad captives write to report their arrival in Sierra Leone. (Digital History ID 1757)
|
| (05/01)
|
A party of slaves led by William Wells Brown crosses Lake Erie and reaches freedom in Canada. (Digital History ID 1735)
|
| (10/20)
|
Fugitive slave George Latimer is recaptured in Boston. Abolitionists later purchased his freedom. (Digital History ID 771)
|
| (11/10)
|
The U.S. and Britain sign a treaty suppressing the Atlantic slave trade. (Digital History ID 747)
|
| 1843 |
| (03/24)
|
Massachusetts bans official state involvement in the recapture of fugitive slaves. (Digital History ID 1784)
|
| (06/01)
|
Former slave Isabella Van Wagenen renames herself Sojourner Truth. (Digital History ID 1700)
|
| (08/15)
|
The National Convention of Colored Men meets in Buffalo, N.Y. (Digital History ID 1616)
|
| (08/30)
|
The Liberty Party welcomes blacks to its convention in Buffalo, N.Y. (Digital History ID 1599)
|
| (09/16)
|
Frederick Douglass is beaten by a mob in Pendleton, Indiana. (Digital History ID 1580)
|
| 1844 |
| (01/05)
|
The Liberator reports the first meeting of the Wester New York Anti-Slavery Society. (Digital History ID 1811)
|
| (02/02)
|
The Liberator prints Cassius Clay's speech denouncing the annexation of Texas. (Digital History ID 782)
|
| (04/27)
|
William Lloyd Garrison writes a support: "immediate emancipation is the duty of the master and the right of the slave." (Digital History ID 1770)
|
| (06/22)
|
Jonathan Walker leaves Pesacola, Fl. for the Bahamas with seven fugitive slaves. (Digital History ID 1677)
|
| (12/03)
|
The Gag Rule is lifted in the U.S. Congress. (Digital History ID 720)
|
| 1845 |
| (06/11)
|
More than 2,000 delegates attend the Liberty Party convention in Cincinnati. (Digital History ID 1689)
|
| (08/06)
|
Frederick Douglass departs for a speaking tour in England. (Digital History ID 1626)
|
| (08/27)
|
Frederick Douglass defies threats from slavery defenders aboard a ship en route to England. (Digital History ID 1602)
|
| 1846 |
| (01/07)
|
Black activist Mary Eleanore McCoy is born on the Underground Railroad. (Digital History ID 1814)
|
| (04/21)
|
In Scotland, Frederick Douglass urges Christians to distance themselves from American slaveholders. (Digital History ID 1764)
|
| (08/17)
|
Frederick Douglass joins in the public launch of the English Anti-Slavery League. (Digital History ID 1614)
|
| (08/18)
|
In London, Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison meet with Thomas Clarkson, the British champion of abolition. (Digital History ID 1613)
|
| (12/22)
|
In a letter to Henry C. Wright, Frederick Douglass describes the purchase of his freedom by English supporters. (Digital History ID 789)
|
| 1847 |
| (06/30)
|
Dred Scott files suit to claim his freedom. (Digital History ID 1667)
|
| (08/02)
|
William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass begin a speaking tour in Ohio. (Digital History ID 1631)
|
| (08/19)
|
The National Anti-Slavery Standard denounces a mob's disruption of a speech by Frederick Douglass. (Digital History ID 1612)
|
| 1848 |
| (03/31)
|
Frederick Douglass lectures on abolition in Bath, N.Y. (Digital History ID 1792)
|
| (04/18)
|
70 slaves are captured aboard the Pearl while attempting to escape Washington, D.C. (Digital History ID 1760)
|
| (05/14)
|
Abolitionists Theodore Weld and Angelina Grimke marry in Philadelphia. (Digital History ID 1721)
|
| (06/29)
|
Frederick Douglass becomes the sole editor of The North Star. (Digital History ID 1668)
|
| (07/19)
|
Frederick Douglass attends the first Women's rights Convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y. (Digital History ID 1646)
|
| (12/25)
|
Fugitive slaves Ellen and William Craft arrive in Philadelphia, gaining freedom. (Digital History ID 1802)
|
| 1849 |
| (07/15)
|
Frederick Douglass addresses the Ohio Senate. (Digital History ID 1650)
|
| (10/22)
|
Frederick Douglass addresses an anti-slavery meeting in New York City. (Digital History ID 769)
|
| (11/03)
|
The Anti-Slavery Bugle editorializes: "fugitive slave literature is destined to be a powerful…means of abolitionizing the free states." (Digital History ID 756)
|
| (11/16)
|
Frederick Douglass declares: What a loss to industry, skill, invention…is slavery." (Digital History ID 739)
|
| 1850 |
| (02/08)
|
Frederick Douglass publishes an attack on the Compromise of 1850. (Digital History ID 806)
|
| (05/07)
|
Frederick Douglass defies street gangs to address the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York City. (Digital History ID 1728)
|
| (09/18)
|
The Fugitive Slave Law passes, requiring the return of runaway slaves. (Digital History ID 1578)
|
| (09/18)
|
Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which requires the return of runaway slaves seeking sanctuary in the North. (Digital History ID 1047)
|
| (09/20)
|
Congress abolishes the slave trade in Washington, D.C. effective January 1, 1851. (Digital History ID 1576)
|
| (09/26)
|
The case of James Hamlet becomes the first to be tried under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. (Digital History ID 1569)
|
| (10/04)
|
Syracuse (N.Y.) Vigilance Committee is founded to obstruct the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. (Digital History ID 802)
|
| (10/05)
|
5,000 blacks in New York City cheer as James Hamlet is purchased from slavery, foiling the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. (Digital History ID 801)
|
| (11/15)
|
Frederick Douglass delivers a speech to the 15th annual meeting of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society. (Digital History ID 741)
|
| 1851 |
| (01/24)
|
The Liberator's 20th anniversary is celebrated in Boston. (Digital History ID 1834)
|
| (05/29)
|
Sojourner Truth delivers her "Ain't I a Woman" speech at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron. (Digital History ID 1703)
|
| (06/05)
|
The first installment of Uncle Tom's Cabin is published in National Era. (Digital History ID 1695)
|
| (06/05)
|
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin begins appearing in serial form in an antislavery newspaper. (Digital History ID 1522)
|
| (06/26)
|
The abolitionist newspaper The North Star is first published under a new name, Frederick Douglass' Paper. (Digital History ID 1671)
|
| (07/03)
|
William Wells Brown, a fugitive slave living in London, publishes an article detailing American black flight to England. (Digital History ID 1664)
|
| (09/11)
|
Violent confrontation between local blacks and fugitive slave catchers takes place in Christiana, Pa. (Digital History ID 1586)
|
| (10/01)
|
Abolitionists storm the Syracuse, N.Y. jail to free fugitive slave Jerry McHenry. (Digital History ID 808)
|
| (10/06)
|
Mob burns the Kentucky office of William Shreve Bailey, publisher of the anti-slavery paper Newport News. (Digital History ID 800)
|
| (11/22)
|
Gerrit Smith writes to a colleague: "it is about as easy to get used to slavery as it is to get used to being fried alive." (Digital History ID 733)
|
| (11/24)
|
Castnor Hanway and Elijah Lewis are prosecuted for not assisting slave catchers in Christiana, Pa. (Digital History ID 730)
|
| 1852 |
| (03/20)
|
After being serialized in an antislavery newspaper, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published a book and sells a record number of copies, a million over the next 18 months. (Digital History ID 710)
|
| (03/20)
|
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published in book form. (Digital History ID 1779)
|
| (04/17)
|
James Birney condemns the Fugitive Slave Act as unconstitutional. (Digital History ID 1759)
|
| (07/05)
|
Frederick Douglass delivers his speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" in Rochester, N.Y. (Digital History ID 1661)
|
| (08/26)
|
Charles Sumner delivers a speech against the Fugitive Slave Law in the U.S. Senate. (Digital History ID 1604)
|
| (11/05)
|
Abolitionist Gerrit Smith thanks New York voters for electing him to Congress. (Digital History ID 754)
|
| (12/14)
|
Harriet Beecher Stowe prophesizes victory: "Why has He given [Uncle Tom's Cabin] this success unless He means some mercy to the cause?" (Digital History ID 1227)
|
| 1853 |
| (03/15)
|
The first theatrical performance of Uncle Tom's Cabin takes place in New York. (Digital History ID 1774)
|
| (06/21)
|
Harriet Brent Jacobs' Letter from a Fugitive Slave is printed in the New York Tribune. (Digital History ID 1678)
|
| (06/27)
|
Prudence Crandall is arrested for conducting school for black girls in Connecticut. (Digital History ID 1670)
|
| (09/04)
|
Sojourner Truth addresses the New York City Anti-Slavery Society. (Digital History ID 1593)
|
| 1854 |
| (02/23)
|
Harriet Beecher Stow publishes an attack on the pending Nebraska bill. (Digital History ID 795)
|
| (02/28)
|
Opponents of slavery meet in Ripon, Wisconsin and call for the formation of the Republican Party. (Digital History ID 595)
|
| (02/28)
|
The Republican Party holds its first meeting in Ripon, Wisc. (Digital History ID 1607)
|
| (03/10)
|
The citizens of Racine, Wisc. protest the arrest of Joshua Glover under the Fugitive Slave law. (Digital History ID 1729)
|
| (04/26)
|
The Emigrant Aid Company is founded to promote anti-slavery sentiment in Kansas Territory. (Digital History ID 1769)
|
| (04/26)
|
The New England Emigrant Aid Society is organized and founded to promote anti-slavery sentiment in Kansas Territory. Founded by Eli Thayer, of Worcester, Massachusetts, they seek to assist Northern emigrants to settle in the West. (Digital History ID 533)
|
| (05/24)
|
Fugitive slave Anthony Burns is arrested in Boston. Despite massive protests that include storming the Boston courthouse, he is returned to Virginia. Eventually he is bought out of slavery. (Digital History ID 586)
|
| (05/30)
|
Congress passes Kansas-Nebraska Act, overturning the Missouri Compromise. (Digital History ID 1702)
|
| (05/30)
|
President Franklin Pierce signs the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repeals the Compromise of 1820 prohibition on slavery in the northern half of the Louisiana Purchase and permits the people who settle the territories to decide the slavery issue. (Digital History ID 1505)
|
| (07/20)
|
The Massachusetts Republican Party is founded. (Digital History ID 1645)
|
| (08/03)
|
The New York-Kansas League meets to promote anti-slavery emigration into Kansas Territory. (Digital History ID 1630)
|
| (08/07)
|
Abolitionist Gerrit Smith resigns from Congress. (Digital History ID 1625)
|
| (12/28)
|
Harriet Tubman leads seven slaves from Maryland to freedom in Pennsylvania. (Digital History ID 1799)
|
| 1855 |
| (04/13)
|
Frederick Douglass publicly declares "our elevation as a race is almost wholly dependent upon our own exertions." (Digital History ID 1750)
|
| (04/28)
|
Massachusetts abolishes segregated schools. (Digital History ID 1756)
|
| (11/21)
|
California blacks hold a convention in Sacramento. (Digital History ID 734)
|
| 1856 |
| (01/27)
|
Margaret Garner and 16 other slaves escape from a Kentucky plantation. (Digital History ID 1216)
|
| (05/18)
|
Senator Charles Sumner delivers his "Crime Against Kansas" speech. (Digital History ID 1716)
|
| (05/21)
|
“The Sack of Lawrence.” Pro-slavery forces burn down the “Free Soil” hotel in anti-slavery Lawrence, Kansas. (Digital History ID 1490)
|
| (05/21)
|
“The Sack of Lawrence.” The town of Lawrence, Kansas is sacked by a pro-slavery forces. The forces also burn down the “Free Soil” hotel. (Digital History ID 1713)
|
| (05/22)
|
Senator Charles Sumner is physically attacked by Rep. Preston Brooks on the floor of the U.S. Senate. (Digital History ID 1712)
|
| (05/22)
|
Two days after delivering a speech denouncing “The Crime Against Kansas” in which he made critical remarks about South Carolina Senator Andrew P. Butler, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was severely beaten with a cane by Butler’s nephew, Representative Preston S. Brooks. (Digital History ID 1493)
|
| (05/24)
|
The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre in Kansas: Abolitionists led by John Brown kill five pro-slavery men and boys. (Digital History ID 1710)
|
| (05/24)
|
In retaliation for the Sack of Lawrence and the caning of Charles Sumner, John Brown and a group of abolitionists kill five pro-slavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas. (Digital History ID 587)
|
| (06/17)
|
The Republican Party holds its first convention in Philadelphia, and nominates explorer John C. Fremont for the presidency. The party slogan is “Free Labor, Free Men, Free Speech, Fremont.” (Digital History ID 1366)
|
| (07/23)
|
Lincoln's speech in Galena, Ill., condemnds the spread of slavery to new territories. (Digital History ID 1642)
|
| 1857 |
| (03/06)
|
The Dred Scott Decision denies freedom to slaves taken into free territory. (Digital History ID 1685)
|
| (03/06)
|
In its Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court rules that African American are not citizens and that the Compromise of 1820 is unconstitutional because Congress could not prevent slaves from being brought into a territory. (Digital History ID 621)
|
| (06/04)
|
Harriet Tubman rescues her parents from slavery. (Digital History ID 1697)
|
| (06/17)
|
Gerris Smith and John Brown address antislavery Republicans in Milwaukee, Wisc. (Digital History ID 1682)
|
| (08/25)
|
In a speech in Cleveland, Ohio, Gerrit Smith proposes compensated emancipation. (Digital History ID 1605)
|
| 1858 |
| (03/11)
|
Frederick Douglass and John Brown confer on ways to assist fugitive slaves. (Digital History ID 1751)
|
| (08/05)
|
The Radical Abolition Party nominates Gerrit Smith for governor of New York. (Digital History ID 1627)
|
| (08/27)
|
At the 2nd Lincoln-Douglas debate held in Freeport, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln asks Stephen Douglas to reconcile his support for popular sovereignty with the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision. Douglas argues that a territory’s inhabitants could exclude slavery by refusing to adopt laws protecting slavery, a stance that alienated pro-slavery white Southerners. (Digital History ID 1451)
|
| 1859 |
| (01/12)
|
Black abolitionist Sarah Parker Remond begins a speaking tour of England. (Digital History ID 1820)
|
| (03/07)
|
Ableman v. Booth deems the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law constitutional. (Digital History ID 1696)
|
| (05/08)
|
John Brown holds an anti-slavery convention in Chatham, Ontario. (Digital History ID 1727)
|
| (05/12)
|
Susan B. Anthony attacks slavery at the National Women's Rights Convention. (Digital History ID 1723)
|
| (06/03)
|
William Lloyd Garrison endorses the Republican Party as representing the "political anti-slavery feeling of the North." (Digital History ID 1698)
|
| (08/20)
|
John Brown invites Frederick Douglass to join his raid on Harpers Ferry, Va. Douglass declines. (Digital History ID 1611)
|
| (10/16)
|
Abolitionist John Brown leads a group of about 20 men in a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. (Digital History ID 955)
|
| (10/16)
|
John Brown and his allies, including five African Americans, capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va. (Digital History ID 776)
|
| (10/18)
|
U.S. forces led by Col. Robert E. Lee capture Harpers Ferry, Va. from John Brown. (Digital History ID 774)
|
| (10/25)
|
Frederick Douglass escapes to Canada to avoid charges of aiding John Brown's raid. (Digital History ID 766)
|
| (10/31)
|
John Brown is sentenced to death by a Virginia court. (Digital History ID 759)
|
| (11/12)
|
Frederick Douglass embarks from Canada for a speaking tour in England. (Digital History ID 744)
|
| (12/02)
|
Abolitionist John Brown is hanged for his raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry the previous October. Before his execution, he writes that the evil of slavery will never be purged “except with blood.” (Digital History ID 1143)
|
| (12/02)
|
John Brown is executed for his raid on Harpers Ferry, Va. (Digital History ID 721)
|
| 1860 |
| (05/16)
|
The Republican National Convention in Chicago nominates Lincoln for president. (Digital History ID 1719)
|
| (10/13)
|
In Cincinnati, former slave Louisa Picquet publicly thanks donors who helped purchase her mother's freedom. (Digital History ID 779)
|
| (11/02)
|
Wendell Phillips declares: "Liberty first, Union afterward." (Digital History ID 757)
|
| (11/06)
|
Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th President of the United States. (Digital History ID 753)
|
| (11/06)
|
Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates for the presidency. (Digital History ID 1134)
|
| (12/24)
|
South Carolina officially secedes from the Union. (Digital History ID 1803)
|
| (12/26)
|
President Lincoln sides with paymaster John C. Henshaw in his refusal to use U.S. troops to capture fugitive slaves. (Digital History ID 1801)
|
| 1861 |
| (01/29)
|
Kansas is admitted to the Union as a free state. (Digital History ID 1218)
|
| (03/04)
|
Lincoln's first presidential inauguration. (Digital History ID 1651)
|
| (04/23)
|
Boston blacks demand the right to serve in the Union army. (Digital History ID 1766)
|
| (06/16)
|
Frederick Douglass calls for an emancipation proclamation. (Digital History ID 1683)
|
| (07/24)
|
John Jay III argues that the abolition of slavery is a "military necessity." (Digital History ID 1641)
|
| (09/01)
|
Mary Chase starts a school for escaped slaves in Alexandria, Va. (Digital History ID 1597)
|
| (09/17)
|
The Rev. L.C. Lockwood opens a day school for former slaves near Ft. Monroe, Va. (Digital History ID 1579)
|
| (09/25)
|
The U.S. Navy begins enlisting African Americans. (Digital History ID 1570)
|
| (11/26)
|
Delaware presents President Lincoln with a draft of a bill for gradual, compensated emancipation. (Digital History ID 731)
|
| 1862 |
| (01/23)
|
Citizens of Cayuga County, N.Y. petition Congress for abolition and black suffrage. (Digital History ID 1833)
|
| (02/07)
|
The New England Freedman's Aid Society is founded in Boston. (Digital History ID 1214)
|
| (02/13)
|
Congress forbids the Union Army to aid in the recapture of fugitive slaves. (Digital History ID 1771)
|
| (02/21)
|
Nathaniel Gordon, the only U.S. citizen put to death for slave trading, is executed. (Digital History ID 773)
|
| (03/06)
|
President Lincoln recommends that the federal government provide compensation to those states that adopt emancipation laws. (Digital History ID 622)
|
| (04/10)
|
Congress offers to compensate owners who emancipate their slaves. (Digital History ID 1746)
|
| (04/12)
|
General David Hunter organizes the first official regiment of black troops in the Civil War. (Digital History ID 491)
|
| (04/16)
|
President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Slaveholders receive an average of $300 in compensation. (Digital History ID 504)
|
| (04/16)
|
Congress abolishes slavery in Washington, D.C. (Digital History ID 1758)
|
| (05/03)
|
William A. Jackson, Jefferson Davis's personal servant, flees to Union lines with military information. (Digital History ID 1733)
|
| (05/13)
|
Slave Robert Smalls commandeers the Confederate ship Planter and delivers it to Union forces. (Digital History ID 1722)
|
| (05/19)
|
President Lincoln overrules Gen. Hunter's order emancipating slaves. (Digital History ID 1715)
|
| (07/12)
|
President Lincoln unsuccessfully appeals to the border states to accept compensated emancipation. (Digital History ID 1654)
|
| (07/17)
|
The Second Confiscation Act grants freedom to slaves escaping to Union lines. (Digital History ID 1648)
|
| (07/22)
|
President Lincoln reveals to his cabinet his plan to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. (Digital History ID 1643)
|
| (08/14)
|
President Lincoln welcomes a black delegation at the White House, the first president to do so. (Digital History ID 1617)
|
| (08/23)
|
Philadelphia blacks petition President Lincoln to reject colonization proposals. (Digital History ID 1608)
|
| (09/22)
|
The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation is announced, to be effective January 1, 1863. (Digital History ID 1573)
|
| (09/22)
|
President Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all slaves in the rebel states would be free as of January 1, 1863. (Digital History ID 1060)
|
| (09/27)
|
President Lincoln dismisses John J. Key from the Union Army for disloyalty and defending slavery. (Digital History ID 1568)
|
| (12/23)
|
Jefferson Davis denies prisoner of war status to captured black soldiers. (Digital History ID 1804)
|
| (12/31)
|
Abolitionists in Boston gather to celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation. (Digital History ID 1796)
|
| 1863 |
| (01/01)
|
The Emancipation Proclamation frees slaves in the Confederate states. (Digital History ID 1807)
|
| (01/01)
|
President Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in rebellious states “forever free.” (Digital History ID 1551)
|
| (01/19)
|
General Hallack blocks General U.S. Grant's plan to move slaves from slave territory to Ohio. (Digital History ID 1829)
|
| (01/26)
|
Massachusetts authorizes recruitment of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first black regiment. (Digital History ID 1837)
|
| (02/13)
|
Frederick Douglass delivers his "Mission of War" speech at Cooper Institute in New York City. (Digital History ID 1816)
|
| (02/16)
|
The first recruitment rally for the 54th Massachusetts Infantry is held in Boston. (Digital History ID 1226)
|
| (02/24)
|
Frederick Douglass is appointed to recruit black soldiers for the Union Army. (Digital History ID 807)
|
| (02/27)
|
Frederick Douglass and other black leaders issue Men of Color, to Arms (Digital History ID 1596)
|
| (04/02)
|
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry conducts its first dress parade. (Digital History ID 1795)
|
| (04/20)
|
West Virginia is admitted into the Union with gradual emancipation in its constitution. (Digital History ID 1763)
|
| (05/27)
|
African American soldiers join the unsuccessful Union assault on Port Hudson, La. (Digital History ID 1705)
|
| (05/28)
|
Charles and Lewis Douglass, sons of Frederick Douglass, depart with the 54th Massachusetts Infantry to join the war. (Digital History ID 1704)
|
| (05/28)
|
The first black regiment from the North left Boston to fight in the Civil War. (Digital History ID 1498)
|
| (06/02)
|
Harriet Tubman helps Union troops free 700 slaves at Combahee River, S.C. (Digital History ID 1699)
|
| (06/07)
|
Black Union soldiers repel a Confederate attack at Milliken's Bend, La. (Digital History ID 1693)
|
| (07/18)
|
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry spearheads assault on Fort Wagner, S.C. (Digital History ID 1647)
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| (08/10)
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Frederick Douglass and President Lincoln meet privately for the first time. (Digital History ID 1622)
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| (10/03)
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The Yearly Meeting of American Quakers petitions Congress to end slavery. (Digital History ID 803)
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| (12/07)
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Union Army success move Lincoln to call for a national day of prayer. (Digital History ID 715)
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| (12/08)
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President Lincoln announces a program for reconstruction in his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. (Digital History ID 714)
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| 1864 |
| (02/09)
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The Women's Loyal National League presents Congress with 100,000 signatures demanding the abolition of slavery. (Digital History ID 1673)
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| (03/01)
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Rebecca Lee becomes the first African American woman to receive an American medical degree, from the New England Female Medical College in Boston. (Digital History ID 601)
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| (03/21)
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The New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association visits President Lincoln to discuss the rebellion as "war upon the rights of all working people." (Digital History ID 1780)
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| (04/05)
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President Lincoln thanks the children of Concord, Mass., for their petition on behalf of slave children. (Digital History ID 1738)
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| (04/08)
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The Senate passes the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery by a vote of 38 to 6. (Digital History ID 1742)
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| (04/12)
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The Confederate Army massacres black Union soldiers at Fort Pillow, Tenn. (Digital History ID 1749)
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| (06/15)
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Congress makes black soldiers' wages equal to whites' in the Union army. (Digital History ID 1684)
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| (06/28)
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Congress repeals the 1793 and 1850 Fugitive Slave Acts. (Digital History ID 1669)
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| (09/05)
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Louisiana voters approve a new state constitution abolishing slavery. (Digital History ID 1592)
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| (09/23)
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The Liberator publishes Frederick Douglass's endorsement of Lincoln for president. (Digital History ID 1572)
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| (10/29)
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Sojourner Truth meets President Lincoln: "I was never treated by anyone with more kindness and cordiality than…by that great man." (Digital History ID 761)
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| (11/08)
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President Lincoln is elected to a second term. (Digital History ID 750)
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| 1865 |
| (01/11)
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Missouri's constitutional convention abolishes slavery. (Digital History ID 1819)
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| (01/31)
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The House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. (Digital History ID 1220)
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| (02/01)
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Illinois becomes the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. (Digital History ID 781)
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| (03/03)
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Congress establishes the Freedmen's Bureau. (Digital History ID 1640)
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| (03/17)
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Lincoln address the 140th Indiana Regiment: "Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." (Digital History ID 1776)
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| (04/03)
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The Union Army captures the Confederate capital, Richmond, Va. (Digital History ID 1736)
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| (04/09)
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Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House, Va. (Digital History ID 1744)
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| (04/14)
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President Lincoln is assassinated. (Digital History ID 1752)
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| (04/25)
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2,000 blacks demand to join Lincoln's funeral procession in New York City. (Digital History ID 1768)
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| (05/06)
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William T. Sherman writes: "I am not yet prepared to receive the Negro on terms of potential equality." (Digital History ID 1730)
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| (05/10)
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William Lloyd Garrison resigns as president of the American Anti-Slavery Society. (Digital History ID 1725)
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| (05/11)
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Blacks in Norfolk, Va. Meet to demand equal rights. (Digital History ID 1724)
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| (06/19)
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Juneteenth: News reaches Texas that slavery is ended. (Digital History ID 1680)
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| (10/07)
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Blacks in Jackson, Miss. meet to demand equal rights. (Digital History ID 799)
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| (11/25)
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An African American convention in Charleston, S.C. demands equal rights and repeal of the black codes. (Digital History ID 728)
|
| (12/06)
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Georgia's vote completes ratification of the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery. (Digital History ID 716)
|
| (12/18)
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The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, is ratified. (Digital History ID 1185)
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| (12/18)
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Secretary of State William Seward officials declares the 13th Amendment ratified. (Digital History ID 1222)
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| (12/29)
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The Liberator ceases publication. (Digital History ID 1798)
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| 1909 |
| (02/12)
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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded to press for equal rights for African Americans.
Learn more... (Digital History ID 361)
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