1622 - Anthony Johnson: A Man in Control of His Own
Both African slaves and European indentured servants labored in Virginia in the 1620s. Indentured servants agreed to work for a planter...
1750s to 1780s - Phillis Wheatley (Poet)
After being kidnapped from West Africa and enslaved in Boston, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American and one of the first...
1765 - 1783 - African Americans in the American Revolution (watch)
Slavery, the American Revolution, and the Constitution African American soldiers served with valor at the battles of Lexington and Bunker...
1760s to 1810s - DuSable, Jean-Baptiste-Point (Peacekeeper)
Jean-Baptiste-Point DuSable, a frontier trader, trapper and farmer is generally regarded as the first resident of what is now Chicago,...
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 - Lafayette, James Armistead
James Armistead [Lafayette] was an African American spy during the American Revolution. Born in Virginia as a slave to William Armistead...
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...
1800 - Gabriel’s Conspiracy
Gabriel was born in 1776, on Thomas Prosser's tobacco plantation in Henrico County, Virginia. When he was about ten, Gabriel and his...
1804 - Slaves Won The War - Haitian Revolution (watch)
Touched off by the French Revolution in 1789 as well as America's own fight for freedom. On Saint Domingue, now Haiti, the free people of...
1820s to 1880s - John Horse (Black Seminole Leader)
John Horse, also known as Juan Caballo, John Cowaya, or Gopher John was the dominant personality in Seminole Maroon affairs for half a...