Timeline 1800-1859 African American History and Women

[Previous] [Next] 1800 1801 1802 †¢ Ohio Constitution adopted, outlawing slavery and prohibiting free blacks from voting †¢ James Callendar accused Thomas Jefferson of keeping as his concubine, one of his own slaves -- Sally Hemings. The accusation was first published in the Richmond Recorder. †¢ (February 11) Lydia Maria Child born (abolitionist, writer) 1803 †¢ (September 3) Prudence Crandall born (educator) 1804 †¢ (January 5) Ohio passed black laws restricting rights of free blacks 1805 †¢ Angelina Emily Grimke Weld born (abolitionist, womens rights proponent, sister of Sarah Moore Grimke) 1806 †¢ (July 25) Maria Weston Chapman born (abolitionist) †¢Ã‚  (September 9)  Sarah Mapps Douglass  born (abolitionist, educator) 1807 †¢ New Jersey passes legislation restricts the right to vote to  free, white, male citizens, removing the vote from all African Americans and women, some of whom had voted before the change 1808 †¢ (January 1) importing slaves to the United States became illegal; about 250,000 more Africans were imported as slaves to the United States after slave imports became illegal 1809 †¢ New York began recognizing marriages of African Americans †¢ African Female Benevolent Society of Newport, Rhode Island, founded †¢ Fanny Kemble born (wrote about slavery) 1810 †¢ The Congress bans employment by the U.S. Postal Service of any African Americans 1811 †¢ (June 14) Harriet Beecher Stowe born (writer, author of Uncle Toms Cabin) 1812 †¢ Boston incorporates African American schools into the citys public school system 1813 1814 1815 †¢ (November 12) Elizabeth Cady Stanton born (antislavery and womens rights activist) 1816 1817 1818 †¢ Lucy Stone born (editor, abolitionist, womens rights advocate) 1819 1820 †¢ (about 1820) Harriet Tubman born a slave in Maryland (Underground Railroad conductor, abolitionist, womens rights advocate, soldier, spy, lecturer) †¢ (February 15) Susan B. Anthony born (reformer, abolitionist, womens rights advocate, lecturer) 1821 †¢ New York state abolishes property qualifications for white male voters but keeps such qualifications for African American male voters; women are not included in the franchise †¢ Missouri removes the right to vote from African Americans 1822 †¢ Rhode Island removes the right to vote from African Americans 1823 †¢ (October 9) Mary Ann Shadd Cary born (journalist, teacher, abolitionist, activist) 1824 1825 †¢ Frances Wright purchased land near Memphis and founded Nashoba plantation, buying slaves who would work to buy their freedom, become educated, and then when free move outside the United States †¢ (September 24) Frances Ellen Watkins Harper born in Maryland to free black parents (writer, abolitionist) 1826 †¢ Sarah Parker Remond born (anti-slavery lecturer whose British lectures probably helped keep the British from entering the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy) 1827 †¢ New York State abolishes slavery 1828 1829 †¢ (1829-1830) when Frances Wrights Nashoba plantation project failed, amid scandal, Wright took the remaining slaves to freedom in Haiti †¢ race riots in Cincinnati resulted in more than half the African Americans in the city being forced out of town †¢ the first permanent order of African American Catholic nuns is founded, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, in Maryland 1830 1831 †¢ (September) men and women of the slave ship Amistad demand that the US recognize their freedom †¢ (-1861) Underground Railroad helped thousands of African American men, women, and children to freedom in the Northern states and Canada †¢ Jarena Lee publishes her autobiography, the first by an African American woman †¢ North Carolina bans the teaching of any slaves to read and write †¢ Alabama bans preaching by any African Americans, free or enslaved 1832 †¢Ã‚  Maria W. Stewart  begins series of four public lectures on religion and justice, advocating for racial equality, racial unity and standing up for rights among African Americans. †¢ Female Anti-Slavery Society was founded in Salem, Massachusetts, by and for African American women †¢ Oberlin College founded in Ohio, admitting women and African Americans as students along with white men 1833 †¢Ã‚  Lydia Maria Child  published  An Appeal in Favor of the Class of Americans Called Africans †¢ American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) founded, with four women attending,  Lucretia Mott  spoke †¢Ã‚  Lucretia Mott  and others founded the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society †¢ Oberlin Collegiate Institute opened, the first coeducational college and the first to accept African American students (later renamed Oberlin College) †¢Ã‚  Sarah Mapps Douglass  founded a school for African American girls in Philadelphia †¢ in Connecticut, Prudence Crandall admitted an African American student to her girls school, reacted to disapproval by dismissing the white students in February and, in April, reopened it as a school for African American Girls †¢ (May 24) Connecticut passed a law forbidding the enrollment of black students from outside the state without the permission of the local legislature, under which Prudence Crandall was jailed for one night †¢ (August 23) Prudence Crandalls trial began (see May 24). The defense used a constitutionality argument that free African Americans had rights in all states. The judgment went against Crandall (July 1834) but the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed the lower courts decision, though not on Constitutional grounds. 1834 †¢ (September 10) Prudence Crandall closed her school for African American girls in the face of harassment †¢ Maria Weston Chapman began her work as an abolitionist -- shes known for her work with the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society †¢ New York absorbs African American schools into the public school system †¢ South Carolina bans teaching any African Americans in the state, free or enslaved 1835 1836 †¢ Angelina Grimkà © published her antislavery letter, Appeal to the Christian Women of the South and her sister  Sarah Moore Grimkà ©Ã‚  published her anti-slavery letter, Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States †¢Ã‚  Lydia Maria Child  published her  Anti-Slavery Catechism †¢ Maria Weston Chapman published  Songs of the Free, and Hymns of Christian Freedom †¢ (-1840) Maria Weston Chapman edited the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society annual reports, titled  Right and Wrong in Boston †¢ Fannie Jackson Coppin born (educator) 1837 †¢ William Lloyd Garrison and others won the right of women to join the American Anti-Slavery Society, and for the Grimke sisters and other women to speak to mixed (male and female) audiences †¢ Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women held in New York †¢Ã‚  Angelina Grimke  published her Appeal to the Women of the Nominally Free States †¢Ã‚  Charlotte Forten  born (educator, diarist) 1838 †¢ Angelina Grimke spoke to the Massachusetts legislature, the first woman to address an American legislature †¢ Grimke sisters published  American Slavery as It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses †¢Ã‚  Helen Pitts  born (later, the second wife of Frederick Douglass)   †¢ (and 1839) Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women met in Philadelphia 1839 †¢ (-1846) Maria Weston Chapman published  Liberty Bell †¢ (-1842) Maria Weston Chapman helped edit  The Liberator  and  Non-Resistant, abolitionist publications †¢ women permitted to vote for the first time at an annual convention of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) 1840 †¢Ã‚  Lucretia Mott,  Lydia Maria Child, and Maria Weston Chapman were the executive committee of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society †¢ World Anti-Slavery Convention in London would not seat women or allow them to speak;  Lucretia Mott  and  Elizabeth Cady Stanton  met over this issue and their reaction led directly to organizing, in 1848, the first womans rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York †¢ Abby Kelleys new leadership role in the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) led some members to secede over womens participation †¢ (-1844)  Lydia Maria Child  and David Child edited  Anti-Slavery Standard 1841 1842 †¢ Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin born (journalist, activist, lecturer) †¢ Maria Weston Chapman organized the Anti-Slavery Fair in Boston 1843 †¢Ã‚  Sojourner Truth  began her abolitionist work, changing her name from Isabella Van Wagener †¢ or 1845 (July 4 or 14)  Edmonia Lewis  born 1844 †¢ Maria Chapman became an editor on  National Anti-Slavery Standard †¢ Edmonia Highgate born (fundraiser, after the Civil War, for the Freedmans Association and the American Missionary Society, for educating freed slaves) 1845 †¢ or 1843 (July 4 or 14)  Edmonia Lewis  born 1846 †¢ Rebecca Cole born (second African American woman to graduate from medical school, worked with  Elizabeth Blackwell  in New York) 1847 1848 †¢ (July 19-20) Womans Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, included among its attendees Frederick Douglass and other male and female antislavery activists; 68 women and 32 men signed the  Declaration of Sentiments †¢ (July)  Harriet Tubman  escaped from slavery, returning repeatedly to free more than 300 slaves 1849 1850 †¢ (around 1850) Johanna July born (cowgirl) †¢ Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress †¢ (January 13)  Charlotte Ray  born (first African American woman lawyer in the United States and the first woman admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia) †¢Ã‚  Hallie Quinn Brown  born (educator, lecturer, clubwoman, reformer, Harlem Renaissance figure) †¢Ã‚  Mary Ann Shadd  and her family, free blacks, moved to Canada to avoid capture and enslavement under new US policies and laws †¢ Lucy Stanton graduated from Oberlin Collegiate Institute (now Oberlin College), the fist African American woman to graduate from college †¢ (1850-1852)  Uncle Toms Cabin  by  Harriet Beecher Stowe  ran as a serial in  National Era 1851 †¢Ã‚  Sojourner Truth  gave her Aint I A Woman speech to a womens rights convention in Akron, Ohio, in reaction to male hecklers †¢Ã‚  Harriet Tubman  made her first trip back to the South to help members of her family to freedom; she made a total of 19 trips back to help slaves escape 1852 †¢ (March 20)  Uncle Toms Cabin  by  Harriet Beecher Stowe  published, in book form, in Boston, selling more than 300,000 copies the first year -- the books success in highlighting the evils of slavery prompted Abraham Lincoln later to say of Stowe, So this is the little lady who made this great war. †¢ Frances Wright died (writer about slavery) 1853 †¢ Mary Ann Shadd Cary began publishing a weekly,  The Provincial Freeman,  from her exile in Canada †¢ Sarah Parker Remond tried to integrate a Boston theater and was hurt when a policeman pushed her. She sued the officer and won a $500 judgment. †¢ Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and later that year performed before Queen Victoria 1854 †¢Ã‚  Francis Ellen Watkins Harper  published  Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects  which included an anti-slavery poem, Bury Me in a Free Land †¢ Katy Ferguson died (educator; ran school in New York City for poor children) †¢Ã‚  Sarah Emlen Cresson and John Miller Dickey, a married couple, found Ashmun Institute, to educate African American men; this later becomes Lincoln University 1855 †¢ Maria Weston Chapman published  How Can I Help to Abolish Slavery 1856 †¢ Sarah Parker Remond hired as a lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society 1857 †¢ Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court declared that African Americans were not US citizens 1859 †¢Ã‚  Our Nig; Or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black  by Harriet Wilson published, the first novel by an African American †¢ (June) Sarah Parker Remond began lecturing in England, Scotland, and Ireland for the American Anti-Slavery Society. Her lectures on slavery probably helped keep the British from actively entering the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. †¢ (October 26)  Lydia Maria Child  wrote to Governor Wise of Virginia, regretting the action of John Brown but asking for admission to nurse the prisoner. Published in the newspaper, this led to a correspondence that was also published. †¢ (December 17)  Lydia Maria Childs response to a Mrs. Mason, who had defended the Souths caring attitude towards slaves, included the famous line, I have never known an instance where the pangs of maternity did not meet with requisite assistance; and here at the North, after we have helped the mothers, we do not sell the babies. [Previous] [Next] [1492-1699] [1700-1799] [1800-1859] [1860-1869] [1870-1899] [1900-1919] [1920-1929] [1930-1939] [1940-1949] [1950-1959] [1960-1969] [1970-1979] [1980-1989] [1990-1999] [2000-]