1700 to 1799

1700

A slave revolt occurs on the island of Saint-Domingue (later Haiti); rebels flee into Spanish Santo Domingo. Read more...

Colonial Rhode Island and Pennsylvania recognize the existence of slavery.Read more...

Samuel Sewell, a Massachusetts judge, publishes The Selling of Joseph, probably the first antislavery book published in the British colonies.Read more...

1705

Virginia passes a new, comprehensive slave code. In a separate act Virginia prohibits “Popish recusants, convict negroes, mulattoes, and Indian servants” from testifying in court. A third law that year declares slaves to be “real estate” for purposes of inheritance. Read more...

1708

Seven white people are killed during a slave revolt in Newton, Long Island, New York. As a result, a black woman is burned alive and one Indian man and two black men are hanged. Read more...

Africans slightly outnumber whites in South Carolina, making it the only English mainland colony with a black majority.

1712

Slaves in New York City initiate a revolt, during which nine white men die. As a result, restrictions on slaves are increased and the captured conspirators are hanged or burned alive. Among six who are pardoned is a pregnant woman. Read more...

Slaves outnumber whites in South Carolina by about two to one. Read more...

1715

North Carolina laws allow slavery to exist in the colony. Read more...

In the Yamasee War slaves are enlisted in the South Carolina militia to fight the Yamasee Indians.

1717

Cotton Mather opens a school for blacks in Massachsuetts. Read more...

1723

Virginia allows the enlistment of blacks in the militia as drummers, musicians, and laborers. Read more...

1728

Rhode Island colony allows private manumission of slaves, provided “security” is given that the manumitted slaves will not need public support. Read more...

1731

After a failed slave revolt in French Louisiana, African-born Samba Bambara is executed along with his co-conspirators. Read more...

1732

Virginia law reaffirms that slaves and free blacks, even if Christians, cannot testify in court, except at the trials of slaves accused of capital offenses.

1733

The Spanish king offers freedom to any English slaves who escape to Saint Augustine, Florida. Read more...

In Massachusetts Elihu Colman, publishes Testimony Against the Antichristian Practice of Making Slaves of Men. Read more...

1736

In Providence, Rhode Island, Emanuel Manna and his wife Mary Baroon, both of whom purchased their freedom, open a catering establishment and an oyster and alehouse.

1739

Slaves kill their masters in South Carolina and flee toward Florida, growing in numbers as they move south. Called the Stono Rebellion, it is the largest slave revolt in the colonies prior to the American Revolution. The insurrection fails and South Carolina severely limits the mobility and personal liberty of slaves. Read more...

1740

As part of the effort to curb the business activities of slaves, South Carolina enacts a slave code that states, “no slave or slaves shall be permitted to rent or hire any house, room, store or plantations, on his or her own account.” Read more...

1741

Suspicious fires and rumors of slave conspiracies raise fears of a revolt in New York City; thirty slaves are executed and more than seventy are transported to the West Indies. Read more...

1743

Toussaint Loverture, who will later lead the Haitian Revolution, is born in Saint-Domingue. Read more...

1746

Lucy Terry composes “Bar's Fight,” the earliest known poem by a black person in North America. Read more...

1750

The Georgia colonial government finally accedes to the demands of white settlers to allow slavery in the colony. Read more...

1754

The Quaker John Woolman publishes Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes, which has a powerful impact beyond the Quaker community in persuading many whites that slavery is wrong. The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting publishes An Epistle of Caution and Advice, Concerning the Buying and Keeping of Slaves, written almost entirely by Woolman and Anthony Benezet. Read more...

1760–1769

Gouldtown, a rural community of mixed-race blacks, is founded in New Jersey. It is the first recorded community of its kind. Read more...

The first known slave narrative is published in the American colonies: Britton Hammon, A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Surpizing Deliverance of Britton Hammon, a Negro Man, published in Boston. Read more...

1761

The New York slave Jupiter Hammon publishes An Evening Thought, Salvation, by Christ, with Penitential Cries. Read more...

1762

Anthony Benezet publishes A Short Account of That Part of Africa Inhabited by the Negroes. Read more...

1764

The former slave Abijah Prince is one of the founders of the town of Sunderland, Vermont; at the time he owns 100 acres in Guilford.

1765

Jenny Slew files suit in Massachusetts colony and wins her freedom. Read more...

Fraunces Tavern is opened by Samuel “Black Sam” Fraunces; it is the oldest standing building in New York City . Read more...

Demonstrations against the Stamp Act in Charleston, South Carolina, lead to rumors of a slave plot.

1766

Methodist Church founded in America. Church initially prohibits members from owning slaves. Read more...

The New England black craftsman Cyrus purchases his freedom through his success as a manufacturer of wooden trays.

1767

Phillis Wheatley, a slave in Boston who was probably born in Senegal, publishes her first poem, “On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin,” in the Newport Mercury. Read more...

1768

Wentworth Cheswill becomes justice of the peace in Newmarket, New Hampshire. In all likelihood he is the first person of African ancestry to hold public office in what will become the United States. Read more...

1770

Crispus Attucks, a free black, is killed when British troops fire on a group of demonstrators in what has come to be known as the Boston Massacre. Read more...

Anthony Benezet establishes the African Free School in his home in Philadelphia. While few in number, his early students include two future leaders of the city's black community, Absalom Jones and James Forten. Read more...

James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, a former slave in New York, publishes his autobiography in England, titled Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince. Read more...

Phillis Wheatley gains recognition as a poet when the University of Cambridge in New England publishes the poem “On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield.” Read more...

1772

Jean Baptiste Point De Sable, the son of a Haitian slave and a Frenchman, builds a trading post on the site of present-day Chicago. Some sources put the date at 1779. Read more...

Anthony Benezet publishes Some Historical Account of Guinea, which is probably the most important literary attack on the African Slave Trade to appear before the American Revolution. Read more...

In Somerset v. Stewart Chief Justice Lord Mansfield, speaking for the Court of Kings Bench, rules that a slave brought to England cannot be prevented from asserting his liberty. While slavery continues in Great Britain for some time after this, the case destroys the legal basis of the institution and allows any slave in England the chance to gain his liberty. Read more...

1773

Under the leadership of Anthony Benezet, Philadelphia Quakers establish the first free school for black people. Read more...

The former slaves George Liele and Andrew Bryan organize a Baptist church in Savannah, Georgia. Read more...

Phillis Wheatley becomes the second American woman (and the first black woman) to publish a book, with the appearance of her collection of poems, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Born in West Africa (probably in present-day Senegal), the twenty-year-old Wheatley is still a slave when the book appears. Read more...

1774

Massachusetts begins to enlist free blacks in its militia companies. Read more...

Rhode Island prohibits the importation of slaves to the colony.

1775

Black soldiers, including James Armistead Lafayette, Agrippa Hull, and Saul Matthews perform distinguished service during the American Revolution. Black men fight in early battles of the Revolution, at Lexington and Concord, Ticonderoga, and the Battle of Bunker Hill, where Peter Salem and Salem Poor both gain recognition for their service. Hundreds of New England slaves are manumitted by their masters in order to fight for the patriot cause. General George Washington initially demands that only whites be enlisted, but by October he asks Congress to allow free blacks to enlist in the Continental army. By the end of the war, an estimated 5,000 African Americans will fight on the side of the patriots. Read more...

One of the first independent black Baptist congregations develops in Silver Bluff, South Carolina. Read more...

In Virginia the slave Christopher McPherson manages the operations of his owner's businesses; he manages ironworks, mills, coal mines, and shipping concerns.

November 1775

Lord Dunmore, the governor of Virginia, issues the first of a series of proclamations from English officials and generals offering freedom to slaves who join the British cause against the colonists. Three hundred runaway slaves form Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment. Read more...

1776

The Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, make manumission obligatory for any slaves owned by Friends. Read more...

The American Declaration of Independence proclaims that all men are created equal. Blacks continue to fight on both sides of the conflict. In September the patriot spy, Nathan Hale, is hanged in New York. The hangman is a black man named Bill Richmond. Read more...

In Pennsylvania, the illiterate slave Thomas establishes a successful cooper business.

1777

Blacks in Massachusetts and New Hampshire petition for their freedom. Their cases are based on the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence. Settlers in what will become Vermont (the fourteenth state), write a constitution abolishing slavery. Read more...

Rhode Island organizes an almost entirely black regiment. Connecticut allows slaves to enlist without their master's permission, and grants the enlistees their freedom. Read more...

1778

The black entrepreneur Paul Cuffe and his brother John refuse to pay taxes, claiming taxation without representation. Over seven hundred blacks fight at Battle of Monmouth. Town meetings in Massachusetts reject a proposed state constitution in part because it does not abolish slavery. Read more...

1779

South Carolina protests the use of black soldiers.

1780

Pennsylvania enacts a gradual emancipation law. Read more...

The first mutual aid society for African Americans is established in Rhode Island by Newport Gardner and other blacks. His African Union Society encourages thrift, makes loans to debt-ridden members, and provides insurance benefits to widows and children and apprenticeships for youths. Read more...

Massachusetts adopts a constitution declaring that all people in the state are “born free and equal.” The constitution allows all adult males to vote.

1781

Elizabeth “Mum Bett” Freeman sues for her freedom in Massachusetts. Her petition is designed not only to secure freedom for herself but also to show that slavery is inconsistent with state law, thereby securing freedom for all Massachusetts slaves. Freeman wins her freedom and is awarded thirty shillings in damages for a beating she received from her mistress. Read more...

At the Battle of Yorktown General Washington chooses the First Rhode Island, a regiment that is more than half black, for a crucial attack on a British position. Colonel Alexander Hamilton is placed in command of these troops. Washington, who once opposed black enlistment, now believes the blacks in the First Rhode Island are among the best soldiers in his army. The assault is a great success, and sets the stage for Lord Cornwallis to surrender his army, effectively ending the war. Read more...

Forty-four settlers, of whom at least twenty-six are black women, men, and children, found Los Angeles, California. Read more...

A successful tannery with markets in New Hampshire and Massachussets is established by Amos Fortune. He provides apprenticeships for both black and white youths.

1782

Deborah Sampson (Gannett), disguised as a male, begins a seventeen-month stint in the Continental Army; sources disagree as to whether Sampson was African American.

1783

British evacuate their former colonies. Some 3,000 blacks, mostly former slaves, leave with the British when they evacuate New York City. Another 5,000 or so former slaves leave from other ports. Read more...

By court decision in the Quoc Walker case, Massachusetts outlaws slavery.Read more...

Wentworth Cheswell elected as a Newmarket, New Hampshire, selectman, making him the first black elected to public office in the United States. He holds that position until 1787. Read more...

4 December 1783

George Washington formally bids farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern. The owner, Samuel “Black Sam” Fraunces is a well-off man who supplied American revolutionary forces with food and money.

1784

Paul Cuffe, a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, sets sail as the first African American to captain his own ship. Read more...

Connecticut and Rhode Island pass gradual abolition acts. Read more...

Escaped slaves in Saint Augustine, Florida, help establish the first black Catholic church in North America. They build the fortified town of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose. Read more...

1786

The Underground Railroad makes its first “run” when Quakers in Philadelphia help a group of fugitive slaves from Virginia to reach freedom. Read more...

Black Poor Committee forms in London to aid African American immigrants.

1787

After being denied admission to the Boston Freemasons, Prince Hall, a businessman and Revolutionary War veteran, petitions the Grand Lodge of England and obtains a charter to create the first African American Masonic Lodge in the United States. Read more...

First Free African School is established in New York City, a precursor to secular education for African Americans in the city. Read more...

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones organize the Philadelphia Free African Society, it is the first formally organized African American mutual aid society, and is both an abolitionist and religious organization. Read more...

Delegates to the Philadelphia Convention approve the United States Constitution, which includes numerous clauses that protect slavery and give extra political power to the slave states by counting slaves for purposes of representation and for the allocation of electors in the electoral college. Read more...

Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade forms in England and issues a medallion that shows a kneeling slave with the motto: “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?”

Northwest Ordinance prohibits slavery in the territory that eventually becomes Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

1788–1890s

Europeans, including Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, David Livingstone, and Heinrich Barth, explore the interior of the African continent. Read more...

Debate over ratification of the Constitution leads to numerous attacks on the document for the compromises over slavery, especially Article I, Section 9, which prevents Congress from ending the African slave trade before 1808. In the South supporters of the Constitution often praise the document for protecting slavery. Read more...

The first known abolitionist paintings—contrasting the benevolent actions of Africans with the barbarous behavior of Europeans—are exhibited at the Royal Academy in London.

1789

Olaudah Equiano's autobiography, titled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, is published. It tells of his childhood in West Africa, his capture and subsequent enslavement, his experience during the infamous Middle Passage, and his eventual purchase of his own freedom. Literary historians in 2005 uncover evidence that much of the first part of the book is fictional. Read more...

The U.S. Constitution is ratified. Blacks vote in a least six states during the ratification process. Read more...

Printed and distributed in the spring, a broadside contains the plan and cross section of the Liverpool slave ship Brookes. The English abolitionist William Wilberforce refers to the diagram in a speech to the members of the House of Commons: “So much misery condensed in so little room, is more than the human imagination had ever before conceived.”

1790

The government of the United States conducts its first official census. The black population totals 757,181, of which 59,557 are free and 697,624 are slaves. Read more...

Benjamin Franklin petitions Congress to end the African slave trade. Read more...

Free blacks in Charleston, South Carolina, organize the Brown Fellowship Society, the oldest funeral society in the city. The society's motto “charity and benevolence” does not apply to African Americans with especially dark skin or low social status. Read more...

1791

The black mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker, publishes his first almanac. He sends a copy to Thomas Jefferson as evidence of the intellectual capacity of Africans. He is also appointed to help survey the land for the nation's capital in what will become Washington, D.C. Read more...

Led by Toussaint Louverture and Boukmann, a fugitive slave from Jamaica and a Vodou priest, the Haitian Revolution begins in Saint Domingue. The island nation declares its independence from France in 1804, changes its name to Haiti, and becomes the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere. Read more...

Vermont enters the Union as the fourteenth state. Under its new Constitution free blacks are allowed to vote. Slavery is prohibited. Read more...

Newport Gardner, a former slave, opens a music school in Newport, Massachusetts.

North Carolina makes the murder of a slave punishable by death.

1792

The Federal Militia Act prohibits blacks from serving in state militias.

1793

After purchasing her freedom, Catherine Ferguson opens Katy Ferguson's School for the Poor in New York, enrolling black and white children from a local almshouse. Read more...

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, who is the first ordained African American priest in the Episcopal Church, create a nonprofit undertaking business during the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. The same year, Allen founds Bethel Church in Philadelphia. It is the first black Methodist Church in the nation, and will become the founding congregation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1814. Read more...

Congress enacts the first fugitive slave law, making it a crime to harbor or prevent the arrest of a fugitive slave. Read more...

Black women in Philadelphia establish the Female Benevolent Society of Saint Thomas.

Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, increasing cotton production in the South and raising the demand for slaves to work the cotton fields.

1794

The Saint Thomas African Episcopal Church opens in Philadelphia. Read more...

Delegates from five antislavery groups meet in Philadelphia to establish the American Convention for promoting the Abolition of Slavery and Improving the Condition of the African Race.

Slavery is abolished in the French Empire.

1795

To prevent the French from seizing the Cape peninsula of South Africa and attacking British ships en route to India, Britain sends an expedition to take possession of the region. Although the Cape reverts to Dutch control between 1803 and 1806, by 1814 British sovereignty over the tip of southern Africa is established.

1797

Stephen Smith is born into slavery in Cecil County, Maryland. He will eventually partner with his cousin William Whipper and become a successful lumber and coal merchant, real estate speculator, informal banker, and philanthropist. By 1860 he will be worth $250,000 and by 1865 he will be the wealthiest African American alive, worth around $500,000. Read more...

Blacks who had been freed by their North Carolina Quaker masters petition Congress to protect their liberty after North Carolina passes a law requiring their reenslavement. Read more...

1798

James Forten Sr.—a wealthy businessman, philanthropist, and abolitionist in Philadelphia—patents a sail-handling device and establishes the first and largest black-owned sailmaking business in the country. Read more...

Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture Smith, A Native of Africa is published in New London, Connecticut. Read more...

Born into slavery, John Stanley is manumitted by the North Carolina legislature. Known as “Barber Jack,” he later becomes wealthy operating barbershops. He spends $40,000 investing in plantations and purchasing a total of sixty-four slaves. He eventually frees eighteen slaves, including his wife and children.

1799

New York legislators pass “An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery.” The law frees the children of slave women born after 4 July 1799, but not at once. Male children become free at age twenty-eight; female children at age twenty-five. Read more...