1770s to 1790s - Benjamin Banneker (Astronomer, Scientist)
Benjamin Banneker was a largely self-educated mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs and writer. Synopsis Benjamin Banneker was...
1781 - Mum Bett - One of the first slaves to earn freedom
Mum Bett (Elizabeth Freeman) was among the first slaves in Massachusetts to successfully sue for her freedom, encouraging the state to...
1800s - Slavery Abolished in the North (but not really)
The perception about the United States in the period before the Civil War is that the North was “free” and the South was “slave.” Now, in...
1820s to 1883 - Sojourner Truth - Abolitionist and Feminist (watch)
Sojourner Truth, born Isabella (Belle) Baumfree; c. 1797 – November 26, 1883) was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights...
1820s - William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison was an American journalistic crusader who helped lead the successful abolitionist campaign against slavery in the...
1840s to 1880s - Martin Robison Delany (Editor, Civil Rights Activist, Doctor, Author)
Abolitionist Martin Robison Delany was both a physician and newspaper editor, and became one of the most influential and successful...
1840s - John Brown (militant abolitionist)
Perhaps more than any other American historical figure, the militant abolitionist John Brown embodies the idea that one man’s terrorist...
1840s to 1865 - The Secret History of the Underground Railroad
For most people today—as for most Americans in the 1840s and 1850s—the phrase Underground Railroad conjures images of trapdoors,...
1840s to 1895 - Frederick Douglas
Who Was Frederick Douglass? Abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass was born into slavery sometime around 1818 in Talbot County, Maryland....
1840s to 1880s - Henry Highland Garnet
Henry Highland Garnet -- born a slave, well educated, known for his skills as an orator, a leading abolitionist, a clergyman -- stood...