African-American history

The Lynching of Brothers Ephraim and Henry Grizzard in 1892

In April 1892, Henry and Ephraim Grizzard, two African American brothers from Middle Tennessee, were lynched after being accused of assaulting two white sisters in Goodlettsville. The charges were never proven, yet both men were killed by white mobs...

How the Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade Gave Birth to Slave Breeding in the U.S.

When the United States Congress voted to abolish the transatlantic slave trade in 1808, many hoped it would signal a decline in the horrors of slavery. But instead of ending human bondage, this legal milestone gave rise to one...

Christiana Uprising of 1851: The Day Freed and Enslaved Africans Stood Up Against Slave Catchers

In the early hours of September 11, 1851, long before the first rooster crowed over Christiana, Pennsylvania, a group of armed white men climbed the hill to William Parker’s home. They came with warrants. They came with chains. They...

The Untold Story of Henrietta Duterte: The Woman Who Used Her Mortuary to Help Enslaved Africans Escape Slavery

Henrietta Smith Bowers Duterte was a pioneering African-American funeral home owner, philanthropist, and courageous abolitionist from Philadelphia who turned her profession into a powerful tool of resistance, smuggling freedom through the very rituals meant to honor the dead. She...

Rev Basil Manly Sr.: The 19th-Century Pastor Who Used the Bible to Justify White Ownership of Black Bodies

Basil Manly Sr. was more than a Southern preacher, he was one of the most vocal and influential theological defenders of American slavery. A prominent Baptist minister, university president, and the author of the infamous Alabama Resolutions, Manly’s beliefs...

Lewis C. Robards: The Slave Trader Who Carved Out a Business Selling Lightskin Girls into Sexual Slavery

Lewis C. Robards was a slave trader who ran a slave jail in Lexington, Kentucky, where he became notorious for trafficking what the white slave trade called “fancy girls”, light-skinned Black girls and women who were specifically sold for...

Private Felix Hall: The Black Soldier Lynched on a U.S. Military Base in 1941

On the morning of March 28, 1941, deep in a wooded ravine at Fort Benning, Georgia, the lifeless body of Private Felix Hall was discovered. He had been hanging from a tree by a noose, his hands tied behind...

Rev. Charles Turner Torrey: The American Pastor Sentenced to Prison and Left to Die for Freeing Enslaved Africans

Charles Turner Torrey was an American pastor, journalist, and one of the most daring and politically-minded abolitionists of the 19th century. He played a major role in the fight against slavery by organizing direct actions to help enslaved Africans...

Duluth lynchings: How a White Girl’s False Accusation Led to the Lynching of Three Black Circus Workers in 1920

On the night of June 15, 1920, a white mob in Duluth, Minnesota, dragged three African-American circus workers from jail, Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie, and lynched them in front of thousands. The men had been falsely...

George Whitefield: The English Preacher Who Funded His Orphanage by Enslaving Africans on His Plantation

George Whitefield is remembered as one of the most influential preachers of the 18th century. A co-founder of Methodism alongside John and Charles Wesley and a major force in the First Great Awakening, Whitefield’s legacy is often told as...
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Harriet Jacobs: The Woman Who Hid in an Attic for Seven Years to Escape Slavery and Sexual Abuse

Harriet Jacobs’ story is one of the most extraordinary acts of survival in American history. To escape her master’s...