Slavery timeline
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The French Legislative Assembly Extends Full Rights Of Citizenship To Free People Of Color Or Mulattoes
Toussaint L'Ouverture was born into slavery in the Plaine du Nord of what was then Saint-Domingue. He was born on the Bréda plantation of Bayon de... Read more
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Johns Hopkins Born
Johns Hopkins was born on May 19, 1795, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, to a Quaker family. Convinced that slavery was morally wrong, his parents... Read more
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Reverdy Johnson is Born
On May 21, 1796, attorney and statesman Reverdy Johnson was born in Annapolis, Maryland. Johnson represented Maryland, a slaveholding state south... Read more
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Toussaint L'ouverture Signs A Treaty With The French In Cap-Haïtien
Denying that he was trying to reinstate slavery, Napoleon sent his brother-in-law General Charles Leclerc with thousands of troops and numerous... Read more
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Slavery Is Restored In Guadeloupe
Political conflicts in Guadeloupe and in Saint-Domingue grew with the restoration of slavery on May 20, 1802, and the defection of leading French... Read more
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Harriet Tubman is born
Harriet Tubman was born Araminta "Minty" Ross to slave parents, Harriet ("Rit") Green and Ben Ross. Rit was owned by Mary Pattison Brodess (and... Read more
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Douglass is Sent to Baltimore to Live with Hugh Auld
Because Frederick had a natural charm that many people found engaging, he was chosen to be the companion of Daniel Lloyd, the youngest son of the... Read more
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Douglass's First Attempt to Escape Slavery
After working for Covey for a year, Frederick was sent to work for a farmer named William Freeland, who was a relatively kind master. But by now,... Read more
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Elijah Parish Lovejoy Is Killed
On November 7, 1837, Elijah Parish Lovejoy was killed by a pro-slavery mob while defending the site of his anti-slavery newspaper The Saint Louis... Read more
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Frederick Douglass Escapes From Slavery
On September 3, 1838, abolitionist, journalist, author, and human rights advocate Frederick Douglass made his dramatic escape from... Read more
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The Survivors Of The Amistad Mutiny Are Freed
The Supreme Court issued a ruling on March 9, 1841, freeing the remaining thirty-five survivors of the Amistad mutiny. Although seven of the nine... Read more
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Harriet Tubman marries John Tubman
In 1844 at the age of 25, she married John Tubman, a free African American who did not share her dream. Since she was a slave, she knew there could... Read more
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John Quincy Adams Speaks To The House
Former President John Quincy Adams also expressed his belief that the war was fundamentally an effort to expand slavery in a speech he gave before... Read more
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David Wilmot Introduces Proviso as Preventative Slavery Measure
The Wilmot Proviso was introduced on August 8, 1846, in the United States House of Representatives as a rider on a $2 million appropriations bill... Read more
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"Blind Tom" Wiggins is born
Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins was born on May 25, 1849 on the Wiley Edward Jones Plantation in Harris County, Georgia. Blind at birth, he was sold in... Read more
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Harriet Tubman and brothers escaped from slavery
Harriet was given a piece of paper by a white abolitionist neighbor with two names, and told how to find the first house on her path to freedom. At... Read more
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Harriet Tubman serves as a Conductor on the Underground Railroad
In September of the same year, Harriet was made an official "conductor" of the UGRR. This meant that she knew all the routes to free territory and... Read more
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Tom Wiggins (and his parents) sold to General James Neil Bethune
Tom Wiggins was sold in 1850 along with his slave parents, Charity and Mingo Wiggins, to Columbus, Georgia lawyer, General James Neil Bethune. The... Read more
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Slavery Debate Labors on at Nashville Convention
The Nashville Convention was a political meeting held in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 3 – 11, 1850. Delegates from nine slave holding states met... Read more
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California is Admitted to the Union as a Free State
In 1848, the non-native population of California has been estimated to be no more than 15,000. But after gold was discovered, the population... Read more
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United States Congress Passes Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850... Read more
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Final Compromise Bans Slave Trade in District of Columbia
The fifth law, enacted on September 20, 1850 prohibited the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in the District of Columbia. Significantly, before... Read more
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Harriet Tubman rescues sister, brother-in-law, and children
In December 1850, Tubman received a warning that her niece Kessiah was going to be sold (along with her two children, six-year-old James Alfred,... Read more
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Harriet Tubman helps brother Moses and two others escape slavery
The following spring, she headed back into Maryland to help guide away other family members. On this, her second trip, she brought back her brother... Read more
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First Installment Of Uncle Tom's Cabin Is Published
On June 5, 1851, Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly began to appear in serial form in the Washington National Era, an abolitionist weekly.... Read more