Born on September 12, 1887, in Nkamba, near Thysville, Congo, Simon Kimbangu was a Congolese religious leader who founded the Kimbanguist Church and preached a form of Christianity independent of European missionaries. His African-led ministry directly challenged colonial control...
Thomas L. Jennings was a trailblazer in both invention and civil rights. In 1821, he became the first known African American to receive a U.S. patent for his dry-scouring method, an early version of modern dry cleaning. Beyond his...
In September 1921, in the small town of Pittsboro in Chatham County, North Carolina, sixteen-year-old Eugene Daniel became the victim of one of the most brutal acts of racial violence of the Jim Crow era. What began as a...
The Igbo Landing event stands out in the history of American slavery because it was not a typical plantation revolt, escape attempt, or organized military insurrection. Instead, they rebelled against slavery in the most final way, walking into the...
Alonzo Franklin Herndon was a former slave who became one of the first Black millionaires in the United States and the most powerful Black businessman in Atlanta during the early 20th century, overcoming poverty, systemic racism, and a society...
James Henry Hammond was a powerful and controversial figure in antebellum South Carolina. A U.S. representative, governor, and senator, Hammond was celebrated in his time for his political skill, wealth, and influence. Yet behind this public image lay a...
Levi Coffin was an abolitionist and humanitarian, often called the “President of the Underground Railroad” for his role in helping thousands of enslaved Africans escape to freedom. Alongside his wife, Catherine, he provided shelter, food, and guidance to fugitives...
John N. Forrest was an American slave jailor and disabled veteran active in the interregional slave trade in the United States prior to the American Civil War. He is best known for his role as the jailor of the slave...
Dorcas Allen was an enslaved African woman who killed her two youngest children in an Alexandria slave pen in 1837 rather than let them live in slavery. She reportedly tried to do the same to her older children and...
The church was built directly above the women’s dungeon. While enslaved Africans suffered in the darkness below, European traders, soldiers, and clergy conducted worship services, read scriptures, and sang hymns in the chapel above, indifferent, to the horrors beneath.
Elmina...
