Episodes Nearest to June 2, 1855: 1 through 25 of 25
- The Creation of the South Carolina Historical Society
June 2, 1855
CHARLESTON, South Carolina
Arts/Leisure, Education, Race-Relations, SlaveryIn 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...
- Abolition Crew
June 6, 1855
LEON, Florida
Crime/Violence, Government, Politics, SlaveryNine 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...
- The Know-Nothing' Party pushes through Delaware Prohibition Act
May 6, 1855
KENT, Delaware
Race-RelationsIn 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...
- Interracial couple arrested and jailed in New Orleans.
June 29, 1855
ORLEANS, Louisiana
Crime/Violence, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/BoosterismOn 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....
- The Loss of a Culture
May 3, 1855
CHOCTAW, Mississippi
Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Race-RelationsMany 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...
- Inside the Slave Trade: John Brown's Experience Within a New Orlean's Slave Pen
1855
SOUTHAMPTON, Virginia, BALDWIN, Georgia, ORLEANS, Louisiana
Slavery, Slave TradeJohn 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...
- New Orleans Slave Market
April 27, 1855
ORLEANS, Louisiana
African-Americans, SlaveryHuman 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...
- Early Support for a War in Missouri
July 13, 1855
LAFAYETTE, Missouri
African-Americans, Government, Politics, Slavery, WarOn 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...
- U.S. Senator Pierre Soule files a complaint against bawdyhouses
August 7, 1855
ORLEANS, Louisiana
African-Americans, Urban-Life/BoosterismA 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,...
- The Spartanburg Female College
August 22, 1855
SPARTANBURG, South Carolina
Economy, Education, Government, WomenOn 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...
- The White Slave from Virginia
March 9, 1855
ALEXANDRIA CITY, Virginia
Race-RelationsIt 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...
- Interracial Sex
September 5, 1855
ORLEANS, Louisiana
SlaveryAngry 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....
- Family Divided Over Know-Nothings Membership
September 18, 1855
ORANGEBURG, South Carolina
PoliticsThe 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...
- Know-Nothingism Condemned in Arkansas Legislature
January 10, 1855 to March 17, 1855
PULASKI, Arkansas
LawDespite 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. ...
- Steamboats denied docking privileges for fear of yellow fever or cholera
September 29, 1855
ST LANDRY, Louisiana
Health/Death, EconomyFear 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...
- Politics in 1855
October 1, 1855
NEW YORK, New York
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,...
- National Women's Convention in Cincinnati
October 8, 1855
MONTGOMERY, Ohio
women's rights, Female UnionistsOn 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...
- Meeting of Delegates representing the Agricultural Society
October 25, 1855
MADISON, Tennessee
AgricultureThe 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...
- Missourians Invade a Kansas Territory Election
January 4, 1855
PLATTE, Missouri
Crime/Violence, Government, Politics, Migration/TransportationReactions 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...
- Washington Journalists
January 1, 1855
Washington City, District of Columbia
Government, Law, Politics, Urban-Life/BoosterismWith 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...
- A History of African Slaves in the American Revolution
January 1, 1855
SUFFOLK, Massachusetts
African-Americans, Emancipation, Abolitionism, Revolutionary WarFreedom 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...
- The Murder of Mrs. Harris
December 25, 1854
ASCENSION, Louisiana
African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law, Race-Relations, Slaveryn 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...
- Bill Passed to Incorporate the Mississippi Central and Tennessee Railroad Company
November 14, 1855
DAVIDSON, Tennessee
Economy, Migration/TransportationDuring 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...
- Letter of Henry A. Wise
November 18, 1855
ACCOMACK, Virginia
LawHenry 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...
- Reward
November 21, 1855
ORLEANS, Louisiana
African-Americans, Law, Race-Relations, SlaveryBe on the look out for a runaway slave. Wednesday morning, November 21, 1855 found Patrick finnegan, a slave owner, in a dismal mood. His slave, Edmund, became one of the many attempted runaways across the country. If only he could make it across the border line, Edmund would find himself a safe haven to live out the rest of his life.
Edmund was described as a 5 feet high, stout built and...