History

Fancy Girls: How Light-Skinned Enslaved Girls Were Bought and Sold for Sex in 19th Century America

The term “fancy girls” refers to light-skinned enslaved biracial or african girls who were sold for the purpose of sexual exploitation and concubinage during the antebellum period in the United States. These young girls, many of them barely into their...

The Untold Story of How African Rice Farmers Were Hunted, Stolen, and Enslaved on American Rice Plantations

When we think of the transatlantic slave trade, the brutality of capture, forced transport, and unpaid labour is rightly at the forefront. But what’s often overlooked is how targeted and strategic this system was. Enslavement wasn’t random. European slavers...

Elisha Harper: The African American Veteran Who Was Almost Lynched for Insulting a White Girl in 1919

On July 24, 1919, in the quiet town of Newberry, South Carolina, Elisha Harper, a 25-year-old African American world war I veteran found himself at the center of a mob’s rage. A simple accusation, that he had insulted a...

“Teach Them to Love Poverty”: King Leopold II’s 1833 Letter to Colonial Missionaries and the Mental Enslavement of Africa

In the year 1883, as European empires tightened their grip on Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium issued a letter to colonial missionaries that would later come to symbolize the most chilling fusion of religious evangelism and imperial conquest....

Paul Robeson: The Singer Blacklisted by the U.S. for Speaking Out Against Racism in 1949

Paul Robeson was a celebrated African American singer, actor, and activist whose outspoken criticism of racism and support for socialism led to him being blacklisted and ostracized by the US in 1950. Paul Robeson was born on April 9, 1898,...

How the Fear of Being Eaten Prompted Many Enslaved Africans to Rebel Aboard Slave Ships

The transatlantic slave trade, one of history’s darkest chapters, was marked not only by brutality and dehumanization but also by resistance, which was often sparked by the terrifying unknowns that Africans faced once captured and placed aboard European slave...

Boston Vigilance Committee: The Heroes Who Protected Escaped Slaves from Capture and Return to Slavery

The Boston Vigilance Committee, formed in 1841, was a rugged organization in the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts. Its mission was simple: to protect escaped enslaved Africans from being captured and returned to slavery in the Southern United States. Operating...

Mangi Meli: The African Leader Executed by German Colonizers for Resisting Colonial Rule in 1900

In the late 19th century, as European powers carved up Africa during the Scramble for Africa, many African leaders rose to resist colonial oppression. One such hero was Mangi Meli of the Chagga people in present-day Tanzania. His courageous...

Cesar Picton: The Enslaved African Who Defied the Odds to Become a Wealthy British Businessman

Cesar Picton was a formerly enslaved African child, taken from Senegambia in West Africa and gifted to a British politician. He rose to become a wealthy coal merchant and property owner in 18th- and 19th-century England, defying the odds...

The Untold Story of Shields Green: The Abolitionist Who Was Hanged for Attempting to Free Enslaved Africans

Shields Green, also known as “Emperor,” was one of the most enigmatic figures in the fight against slavery in the United States. An escaped slave from Charleston, South Carolina, Green became a close associate of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and...
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Antonio Ruiz: The Black Hero of Argentina’s War of Independence

Antonio Ruiz, known as Falucho, was an Afro-Argentine soldier who rose from slavery to become a national hero in...
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