Louis Hughes, was one of the many enslaved African Americans who experienced the horrors of slavery in the United States. Hughes’ story, recounted in his memoir Thirty Years a Slave, reveals the cruelty of a system that dehumanized African...
Richard Dickerson was an African American laborer living in Springfield, Ohio, whose lynching by a white mob on March 7, 1904 became the catalyst for further racial violence, including the targeted destruction of Black-owned businesses in the city’s “Levee”...
Jeffrey Brace, originally known as Boyrereau Brinch, was born in West Africa in 1742 and led a peaceful life among his community until the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade changed his destiny forever. His memoir, The Blind African...
In colonial Maryland in 1681, a young Irish woman named Eleanor Butler, also known as Irish Nell, made a bold and controversial decision that would forever change her life. At just 16 years old, she defied societal norms by...
Frederick Douglass was one of the most influential African American leaders of the 19th century. Born into slavery in Maryland, he endured severe hardships but learned to read and write secretly—a skill that fueled his desire for freedom. In...
During the brutal era of chattel slavery in the United States, slave owners viewed literacy as a direct threat to the institution of slavery. They feared it could empower their slaves to pursue freedom, access abolitionist literature, or organize...
Charles Deslondes was an enslaved African man who was brutally executed for leading the 1811 German Coast Revolt, widely regarded as the largest slave uprising in U.S. history, involving over 500 people.
Born around 1789 on the plantation of Jacques...
Margaret Crittendon Douglass was a white woman and former slaveholder, who was convicted and jailed in Norfolk, Virginia, for teaching Black children to read. Her story is a reminder of the brutal measures taken to suppress Black education during...
The Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits, is a Catholic religious order renowned for its commitment to education, missionary work, and theological scholarship. However, their history includes a troubling chapter: the 1838 sale of 272 enslaved Africans to...
Blackshear was a man known for his towering strength, standing six feet four inches and weighing around 250 pounds. Not only was he a skilled craftsman and mechanic, but he was also exploited for another purpose: breeding children who...
