Bill Richmond was a formerly enslaved African who gained international recognition in England as a boxer. Freed during the American Revolution, he became known for his tactical fighting style, defeating top opponents and training fighters like Tom Molineaux. Despite...
Calvin Smith was a wealthy American planter in the antebellum South who operated a notorious slave breeding farm. His plantation was infamous for its focus on breeding biracial children, or mulattoes, who were often sold at higher prices than...
George Case was a British slave trader, businessman, and politician who played a key role in Liverpool’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. He was responsible for at least 109 slave voyages, transporting thousands of enslaved Africans to the...
Tarrafal Concentration Camp, also known as the “Camp of Slow Death,” was one of Portugal’s most infamous colonial prisons. Located in the village of Chão Bom on the island of Santiago in Cape Verde, Africa, it was established in...
The Tryal Rebellion of 1805 is one of the lesser-known but significant accounts of shipboard resistance against slavery. It took place in the South Pacific, off the coast of Chile, involving a group of Senegalese who were being transported...
Willie Francis was an African American teenager sentenced to death in 1945 after a flawed murder trial. At 17, he survived a botched execution, becoming the first known person to survive the electric chair. However, his appeals failed, and...
Elizabeth Eckford, born on October 4, 1941, was one of the Little Rock Nine, the first group of African American students to integrate Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957. Her bravery became iconic when, on September...
Sissieretta Jones, also known as the “Black Patti,” was a renowned African American soprano and the highest-paid Black performer of the late 19th century. Trained in classical music, she captivated audiences from the White House to the grand stages...
The transatlantic slave trade was built on extreme violence, but it was never without resistance. From the moment of capture to the brutal conditions aboard slave ships, enslaved Africans fought back in every way they could. Revolts were frequent,...
Thomas Moss was a successful Black entrepreneur and postman in Memphis, Tennessee, known for co-owning the People’s Grocery, a thriving business that provided an alternative to white-owned stores in the area. In 1892, Moss was falsely accused of inciting...
