Episodes Nearest to May 3, 1855: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. The Loss of a Culture
    date May 3, 1855map CHOCTAW, Mississippitags Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Race-Relations

    Many Native American tribes, including the Choctaws of Mississippi, struggled with their identity as a people during the nineteenth century. As white America expanded west, the lives of these peoples began to be transformed forever. Many Native Americans abandoned their heritage in the pressing tide. They replaced the traditions of their ancestors with many economic, social and political practices...

  2. The “Know-Nothing' Party pushes through Delaware Prohibition Act
    date May 6, 1855map KENT, Delawaretags Race-Relations

    In the elections of 1854, the “American Party', a large portion of which was represented by the “Know Nothing' party, reached their peak point of popularity, winning elections across the country. The party's central platform was an Anti-Roman Catholic and anti-immigrant message. In Delaware, Know Nothingism became especially popular, winning an easy majority of the state...

  3. New Orleans Slave Market
    date April 27, 1855map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans, Slavery

    Human beings sold as cattle was a most atrocious sight for many of the on looking slaves held in the slave markets. For Anne Lynch Botta, a slave woman, a scene where people were priced based on their age, physical traits, and behaviors was a most painful sight. In an instant a child could be ripped from its mother's arms, but on that day, April 27, 1855, a mother and child were fortunate enough...

  4. The Creation of the South Carolina Historical Society
    date June 2, 1855map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Arts/Leisure, Education, Race-Relations, Slavery

    In the 1850s, Charleston, South Carolina, was home to a vibrant intellectual life, Renaissance men, and a host of debating and literary societies. The diversity of these intellectual societies is astounding, often catering to a single ethnic group. In Charleston during the mid-1800s, one could find the St. Andrew's Society for Scotch-Irish, the Hibernian Society or the St. Patrick Society for...

  5. Abolition Crew
    date June 6, 1855map LEON, Floridatags Crime/Violence, Government, Politics, Slavery

    Nine year-old Susan Bradford Eppes was worried about her father. On the eve of the family's journey to visit relatives in Tennessee an abolition crew had invaded the Eppes's plantation. According to Fannie, Susan's older sister, some white men, who had no business about the place, had come in the night and hidden away. Susan wanted to know more but Fannie refused to say anything else...

  6. The White Slave from Virginia
    date March 9, 1855map ALEXANDRIA CITY, Virginiatags Race-Relations

    It is hard to believe one little girl could cause such a sensation, but when people caught site of Mary Mildred, a young former slave who had been employed in Alexandria, they were astonished and labeled her the white slave from Virginia. According to a New York Times article, the girl, whose father bought her freedom after escaping to Boston, was a real, 'Ida May,'- a young female...

  7. Interracial couple arrested and jailed in New Orleans.
    date June 29, 1855map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On June 29th, 1855, two residents of New Orleans were arrested for being “in too close intimacy'. The woman, Antoinette Sondo, was a German that lived with a “A good looking Mulatto' named Green Evans. <br />Thus, one can see that though slaves were not allowed to fight back against rape, African-Americans also were not allowed to engage in interracial relations consensually....

  8. Inside the Slave Trade: John Brown's Experience Within a New Orlean's Slave Pen
    date 1855map SOUTHAMPTON, Virginia, BALDWIN, Georgia, ORLEANS, Louisianatags Slavery, Slave Trade

    John Brown, also known as Fed, was born into slavery in Virginia. As a child, he was separated from his family, and was sold and purchased by three different masters. Brown suffered from many acts of cruelty from his masters: he lost partial use of one eye after being kicked in the face repeatedly by an overseer. He was also used in a number of gruesome experiments performed by a doctor who was...

  9. Early Support for a War in Missouri
    date July 13, 1855map LAFAYETTE, Missouritags African-Americans, Government, Politics, Slavery, War

    On July 13, 1855 in Lexington, Missouri, there was a convention held to rally support for the continuance of slavery in the United States. At that convention James Shannon gave an address entitled "Domestic Slavery," in which he attempted to justify the practice of slavery and disprove the validity of the reasons given by abolitionists to outlaw the practice. The reasons he gave in support of slavery...

  10. Know-Nothingism Condemned in Arkansas Legislature
    date January 10, 1855 to March 17, 1855map PULASKI, Arkansastags Law

    Despite is popularity in many political spheres, Know Nothingism failed to excite the political imagination of the inhabitants of Arkansas. As in other locales, the Know Nothing party attempted to raid the Southern Whig party in the hopes of increasing its own membership for the elections of 1854 and 1855. However, that effort, at least in Arkansas, was met only with defeat and denunciation. ...

  11. U.S. Senator Pierre Soule files a complaint against bawdyhouses
    date August 7, 1855map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    A brothel located next to the home of United States Senator Pierre Soule was so disturbing to him that he filed a complaint against the “crib' where “whites and blacks meet indiscriminately' and “make the night the accomplice of their vices and the time for their hellish amusements.' It was fairly common for white men and free women of color to be in semi-permanent arrangements,...

  12. The Spartanburg Female College
    date August 22, 1855map SPARTANBURG, South Carolinatags Economy, Education, Government, Women

    On a hot sunny date in the upcountry of South Carolina, S. Bobo, the President of the Board of Trustees of the Spartanburg Female College, delivered an inauguration address for the founding of the all women's college. He carefully described the faculty, which included a minister, and the courses of study, ranging from reading and writing to arithmetic and geography. He pleaded with the audience...

  13. Missourians Invade a Kansas Territory Election
    date January 4, 1855map PLATTE, Missouritags Crime/Violence, Government, Politics, Migration/Transportation

    Reactions to the Kansas-Nebraska Act filled newspapers across the nation. National Era, an African-American newspaper based in Washington D.C. commented on the movement of pro-slavery people from Missouri into the Kansas territory. A letter from Governor Reeder of the Kansas territory, printed January 4, 1855, condemned the first election in the district for a delegate to Congress. Reeder...

  14. Washington Journalists
    date January 1, 1855map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Government, Law, Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    With political and social temperatures running high in the winter of 1855, many journalists turned to debates concerning the acquisition of new lands, but this time outside of the modern day contiguous United States. Many rumors circulated about secret deals with foreign countries in exchange for economic and Republican support. One particular rumor published in an article from the Farmer's...

  15. A History of African Slaves in the American Revolution
    date January 1, 1855map SUFFOLK, Massachusettstags African-Americans, Emancipation, Abolitionism, Revolutionary War

    Freedom and the emancipation of slaves were not two separate ideals in separate times in American history.  One of the important milestones in the American Revolution was the Boston Massacre, in which one of the first people to die was a black slave. Some claimed he was one of the first martyrs of the American Revolution.  During the American Revolution, several regiments were formed by order...

  16. Interracial Sex
    date September 5, 1855map ORLEANS, Louisianatags Slavery

    Angry voices yelled out through the night as the dim lights of the Levee shown on several slave girl's faces. The police broke apart their gathering on September 5, 1855. Ther girls were arrested for pilfering and prostitution and were taken to the New Orleans jail until their owners called for them.

    Occurences such stealing and prostitution were not uncommon in the streets of New Orleans....

  17. The Murder of Mrs. Harris
    date December 25, 1854map ASCENSION, Louisianatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law, Race-Relations, Slavery

    n the day of the murder, Ben Small kept watch in the yard for Isidore. Isidore knew that Mrs. Henry would never let Small in the house, so he had to commit the crime. After the murder, one of the men set fire to the house. Ben worried about the children who were asleep in the house at the time.

    This won't do, the children will be burned; let us wake them or put the fire out, Small reportedly...

  18. Family Divided Over Know-Nothings Membership
    date September 18, 1855map ORANGEBURG, South Carolinatags Politics

    The Hammond Family of Georgia dispersed in the 1850s. One son spent years in Europe; another took to the hills of the Blue Ridge; Jake Hammond lived as far west as San Francisco, California. General J. N. Hammond and his wife, the heads of the family, moved to a plantation in southwestern South Carolina. Still, as far apart as the family became geographically, the sons kept in touch with their parents...

  19. Steamboats denied docking privileges for fear of yellow fever or cholera
    date September 29, 1855map ST LANDRY, Louisianatags Health/Death, Economy

    Fear of deadly diseases like yellow fever and cholera brought a panic into towns and had a negative affect on business activity. This fear caused townspeople to speak out against any possible event that could import the disease into their areas, especially areas located near ports, where there was a risk that ships could be carrying these diseases. This fear was commonly spread by reports in the...

  20. Politics in 1855
    date October 1, 1855map NEW YORK, New Yorktags African-Americans, Politics

    "Two of the nominees are negroes," is a statement not heard in everyday life. Today it is not that big of a deal that a black man is running for president, or for any office in the government. However, one hundred and fifty years ago, a black man was not even considered a person, much less someone who could run for political office, especially Secretary of State. Fredrick Douglass, a former slave,...

  21. National Women's Convention in Cincinnati
    date October 8, 1855map MONTGOMERY, Ohiotags women's rights, Female Unionists

    On Thursday October 8, 1855 the crowd of government and union officials at the The National Convention of Women’s Rights in Cincinnati fell silent as Lucy Stone Blackwell took the stage.  The preceding speaker Mr. Wise, had discussed gender inequality in education. Wise theorized that America was the home of a generation of “disappointed women.” who had been denied equal access to educational...

  22. Internal Improvements in Norfolk
    date November, 1854map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags Economy

    By November 1854, Virginia's economic output had slipped behind the other Southern states' production. Improvements were necessary in order to bring the Old Dominion back to its previous dominance. In an essay entitled Views on the Internal Improvement System of Virginia, an author under the name One of her sons described the dismal state of Virginia's economy, and stressed the need...

  23. Meeting of Delegates representing the Agricultural Society
    date October 25, 1855map MADISON, Tennesseetags Agriculture

    The agricultural societies' delegates of Haywood, Fayette, Shelby, and Madison met to set up the governing board of the society in Tennessee. This movement for agricultural initiation influenced the role of the government in helping the farmer's of Tennessee. The creation of fairgrounds shows the impact of agricultural groups. Governor Johnson persuaded the legislature to purchase land...

  24. Bill Passed to Incorporate the Mississippi Central and Tennessee Railroad Company
    date November 14, 1855map DAVIDSON, Tennesseetags Economy, Migration/Transportation

    During 1855 there was a strong movement to expand the railroads in the southern states. Although railroads were well established in the far southeastern states, there was still a need and desire to expand into the west and into the midwestern states. During the 1850's there was a particular expansion of railroads in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Railroads were also built more upon...

  25. Letter of Henry A. Wise
    date November 18, 1855map ACCOMACK, Virginiatags Law

    Henry A. Wise was elected Governor of Virginia in 1855, defeating the Know-Nothing candidate Thomas S. Flournoy, attacking him on religious intolerance and Know-nothing sects of pro-slavery forces in the north. Wise's priority was the institutions of the South and, despite his concerns with state issues; he was ardent on his views against growing northern power over the south. For wise, the...