Anna Maria Weems was a black teenager who escaped slavery in Maryland by disguising herself as a male carriage driver. At just 15, she fled her enslaver's home and traveled north, evading capture and enduring numerous challenges. After weeks...
Tom Molineaux was an African American boxer who rose from slavery to become one of the most celebrated boxer of his time. Known for his strength and skill, he gained his freedom through boxing and became famous for his...
The Ohio River Uprising of 1826 was a bold act of resistance by approximately 75 enslaved Africans being transported south by Edward Stone, a notorious slave trader, and his associates. On September 17, while traveling down the Ohio River,...
In 1841, a group of enslaved African-Americans aboard the American brig Creole staged a daring revolt that would become the most successful slave revolt in U.S. history. Led by Madison Washington, the rebels seized the ship, killed one slave...
John Anthony Copeland Jr. was a man whose life and death embodied the struggle for freedom and justice in a nation deeply divided by slavery. Born free on August 15, 1834, in Raleigh, North Carolina, Copeland was arrested, tried,...
The Decatur slave-ship mutiny was an act of resistance that took place in April 1826 aboard a coastwise slave ship sailing from Baltimore, Maryland, to the New Orleans slave market. This mutiny was part of the broader struggle against...
Slavery in America was one of the darkest chapters in its history, built on violence, fear, and dehumanization. Plantation owners relied on terror to maintain control over the enslaved, and fear was their most powerful weapon. Enslaved people who...
In the early 19th century, a remarkable figure emerged in the fight against oppression and systemic racism in the United States. John Berry Meachum, a freed African reverend, educator, abolitionist and entrepreneur, defied the odds and built a legacy...
In March 1860, Rev. Jermain Wesley Loguen, a formerly enslaved man turned abolitionist, received a shocking letter from Sarah Logue, the wife of his former enslaver. In the letter, Sarah demanded that Loguen either return to her as a...
Ona Judge Staines, also known as Oney Judge, was an enslaved woman who famously escaped the household of the first president of the United States, George Washington, and became a symbol of resistance against slavery.
Ona Judge was born around...