1834

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania

Abolition, Slavery, Racism

Tension over slavery and race was high in the United States when Harriett Martineau, a famous English writer, came to visit in 1834.  Martineau later wrote about her two year trip to America in a book called “Retrospect of Western Travels”, Volumes 1 and 2, which was published in 1938.  In a chapter titled “First Sight of Slavery", Martineau wrote about an incident with an American woman in...

June, 1841

BALTIMORE, Maryland

Slavery, Anti-slavery, Abolition, Slave-trading

Slave-trading was not fully unlawful in Baltimore by June of 1841, and slave-owning was still considered befitting to the community, particularly on the plantations.  Slave-dealing was conducted openly here.  While public attitudes were changing about the institution, the local Christian community seemed too complacent to push for change.  They instead attempted to show their pious and benevolent...

March 10, 1841

NEW YORK, New York

Slavery, Anti-slavery, Abolition

In the mid-19th century, the changes in the public mindset towards slavery had not yet been fully reinforced by law but the distaste with which other countries had viewed the institution for some time was clear.  Blatant racism was still plainly evident, yet the abolition movement was now growing and the public response to prejudice was now becoming very different.  After recent written accounts...

1850

WAYNE, Indiana

Abolition, Slavery

The Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses, was established to lead slaves to freedom in Canada. In order to be successful, slaves needed the shelter, food, and safety of various abolitionists who were sympathetic to their cause. For the slaves, the long journey was anything but easy, but those who helped them along the way faced their own challenges. In his 1850 essay titled...

January, 1860 to March, 1860

NEW YORK, New York

habeas corpus, Slavery, Lemmon Case

On January 25, 1860, the New York Times reported on an important case before the New York Court of Appeals called The People of The State of New York against Jonathan Lemmon. The case was commonly known as the “Lemmon Slave Case”. The events that led to this appeal dated back to 1850. The court case brought up hard questions about slavery within the United States of America and challenged the slavery...

1858

MONTGOMERY, Alabama

Slavery, Civil War, Crime/Violence, Slave Trade

Imagine being purchased as a slave at ten years old, forced to relocate from Virginia to Alabama, and required to endure hours of hard labor and beatings.  This was the life of Walter Calloway, born in 1848 in Richmond, Virginia.  At the age of 10, Calloway was bought by slave master John Calloway whose plantation resided just outside of Montgomery, Alabama.  As he sat on a porch outside his home...

January, 1864 to 1864

FRANKLIN, Tennessee

Race Relations, african americans, Civil War, Slavery

In the midst of the Civil War, one woman remained behind the scenes of the battlefield documenting the war and experiencing the fighting first hand.  Belle Edmondson kept a diary from January to November of 1864 in which she detailed occurrences in West Tennessee such as the Union and Confederate battles, tragic accidents of friends, visitations by friends and family, travel to various southern cities,...

October 8, 1862

RICHLAND, South Carolina

Education for blacks, Religion, Slavery

“Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Newspaper supports illiteracy!” This confusing fictional phrase would have been the perfect attention grabber for The Confederate Baptist, a southern newspaper that did just that.  In its second ever publication, The Confederate Baptist included a column on its front page entitled “Teaching our Slaves to Read.”  The newspaper largely served as a religious...

February 12, 1840

HAMILTON, Ohio

Religion, Slavery, Abolition

In the 1830s a young South Carolina preacher and slaveholder delivered a sermon that justified the institution of slavery in America within the realms of Christianity.  Years later, a reverend in Cincinnati gave a sermon about his endeavor to find proof of the injustices of slavery and the rightful backing of abolitionism through Christianity.  Both of these preachers were able to find justification...

1882

WAKE, North Carolina

Slavery, African-Americans, African American Authors

Two out of every three slave children were ripped from their mother's arms, although the thirteenth amendment marked the end of slavery, it did not erase the hurt and pain of the slaves that had to endure it. The story of slavery and the lives of the surviving slaves still effects America today. The personal recollection of their stories some years later, allowed for all Americans to peer into the...