Nathan “Nearest” Green is one of the most influential, yet long-overlooked, figures in the history of American whiskey. Born into slavery in the early 19th century, Green’s extraordinary skill as a distiller became the cornerstone of what would grow...
In the brutal world of slavery, where whips tore skin and families were auctioned, and bred like cattle, the most powerful weapon wasn’t always the lash, it was the Bible. Through sermons, laws, and redacted scripture, Christianity which was...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Isaac Franklin and John Armfield were not just slave traders; they were industrialists of human misery and were the most influential and ruthless slave traders in the history of the United States. Operating in the 1820s and 1830s, they...
In September, 1855, the town of Franklin, Tennessee, was shaken by one of the most horrifying acts of cruelty ever recorded. A woman named Ellen Bordon, driven by jealousy over her husband’s attention to an enslaved Black woman in...
Elizabeth Greenfield, known as “The Black Swan,” was one of the most remarkable vocalists of the 19th century. Born into slavery in Natchez, Mississippi, sometime between 1808 and 1826, she overcame immense racial and social barriers to become the...
Throughout the history of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, many enslaved Africans were forced to live their lives without ever experiencing freedom. However, the innate human desire for self-determination remained unyielding, leading many to seek freedom through the Underground Railroad...
