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...
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,...
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 shadowed history of the United States, few places symbolize the brutalities inflicted upon enslaved African people as Lumpkin’s Jail in Richmond, Virginia. Known as one of the largest and most notorious slave jails in 19th century Richmond,...
Born in 1709, Mathieu Léveillé was an enslaved African man who endured years of brutal oppression and was ultimately forced to become an executioner in New France (modern-day Canada) as punishment for attempting to escape his shackles.
Before his forced...
The story of Marie Joseph Angélique stands as one of the most significant episodes in the history of slavery in Canada, exposing the harsh realities of slavery and the brutal treatment of enslaved people.
Born in 1705, Angélique was an...
In the early 18th century, the island of Curaçao, a Dutch colony in the Caribbean, was a hub of the transatlantic slave trade. During this time, the island saw few significant rebellions. However, one uprising in late 1716 would...
Thomas Thistlewood was an 18th-century British plantation overseer and slave owner, notorious for his brutal treatment of enslaved Africans in Jamaica. Among the numerous atrocities recorded in his diaries, which he kept meticulously from 1750 to 1786, one of...
The 1733 Akwamu slave insurrection on St. John, which lasted from November 1733 until August 1734, was one of the earliest and longest slave rebellions in the Americas. The insurrection started on 23 November 1733, when 150 Akwamu slaves...
