Learn about enslavement, resistance, abolition and the struggle for freedom through biographies and historical records.
8,921 matching cards · 24 cards per page
Loading image…Biography
Salem Poor (c. 1747–1802) was an enslaved African-American man who purchased his freedom in 1769 and became a soldier in 1775. He was involved in the American Revolutionary War, particularly in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Biography
Sally Hemings, whose given name may have been Sarah, (c. 1773 – 1835) was an enslaved woman, inherited among many others by the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, from his father-in-law, John Wayles. Her mother was Elizabeth "Betty"…
Biography
Sally Maria Diggs (c.1851 – October 27, 1928) was an enslaved African-American girl, also known as "Pinky", whose freedom was famously bought by Henry Ward Beecher in 1860, during a sermon at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, NYC. Beecher famously said, "No child…
1852–1914
Samuel Williams (c. 1852 – 1946?), better known by his pen name Sam Aleckson, was an American emancipated and author of Before the War and After the Union: An Autobiography. Written in 1914 and published in 1929, his memoir gives a rare look into the lives…
1833–1887
Sampson W. Keeble (May 18, 1833 – June 19, 1887) was a businessman and politician in Tennessee during the Reconstruction era. In 1872, he was the first African American elected to the Tennessee Legislature, serving from 1873 to 1875 in the Tennessee House…
Loading image…1857–1914
Samuel A. McElwee (1857-1914) was an African-American lawyer and politician in the United States. He was born enslaved in 1857 in Haywood County, Tennessee. His parents were Robert and Georgianna McElwee.
Biography
Samuel Armstead (né Samuel Ball; c. 1804–October 4, 1908) was an American politician, Methodist minister, restaurateur, and was formerly enslaved. An African American, he served in the Louisiana House of Representatives, established a church, and started a…
Biography
Samuel Benedict (c. 1792–1854) was a Liberian politician and jurist who served as the 1st Chief Justice of Liberia. He was born a slave in the U.S. state of Georgia in 1792, and purchased his freedom and that of his family.
Loading image…1813–1863
Samuel D. Burris (October 14, 1813 – December 3, 1863) was a member of the Underground Railroad. He had a family, who he moved to Philadelphia for safety and traveled into Maryland and Delaware to guide freedom seekers north along the Underground Railroad…
Loading image…Biography
Samuel C. Watson (c. 1832 – March 13, 1892) was a druggist, medical doctor, and civic leader in Detroit, Michigan, and Chatham, Ontario. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, Watson was a part of the Detroit–Chatham Underground Railroad and closely connected…
Loading image…1795–1858
Samuel Eli Cornish (1795 – November 6, 1858) was an American Presbyterian minister, abolitionist, publisher, and journalist. He was a leader in New York City's small free black community, where he organized the first congregation of black Presbyterians in…
Loading image…1802–1877
Samuel Green (c. 1802 – February 28, 1877) was a slave, freedman, and minister of religion. A conductor of the Underground Railroad, he was tried and convicted in 1857 of possessing a copy of the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher…
Loading image…1818–1900
Samuel Harrison (April 15, 1818 – August 11, 1900) was a black American abolitionist, former slave, preacher, and Army chaplain who operated largely in and around New England. He was a staunch writer and orator against slavery and racism, eventually…
Loading image…1819–1900
Samuel P. Bolling (January 10, 1819 – February 8, 1900) was an African-American landowner, politician, businessman, and former slave who served in the Virginia House of Delegates. In 2013 Bolling, along with his son Phillip S. Bolling, was one of several…
Loading image…Born 1817
Samuel Ringgold Ward (October 17, 1817 – c. 1866) was an African American who escaped enslavement to become an abolitionist, newspaper editor, labor leader, and Congregational church minister. He was author of the influential book Autobiography of a…
Loading image…c. 1801–1832
Sharpe organized a mass strike against slavery in 1831. The uprising and its brutal suppression accelerated the movement toward emancipation.
?–1850
Samuel Snowden (c. 1765—1850) was an African-American abolitionist and pastor of the May Street Church, one of the first black Methodist churches in Boston, Massachusetts. Under Reverend Snowden's direction from 1818 to 1850, the May Street Church…
Dates not recorded
Samuel Spearing (born 1823/3) was a black American politician who was enslaved in 1853. He served in the Florida Senate during the Reconstruction era. He represented Duval County in the state senate in 1874. According to one source he was known as Uncle…
Loading image…1864–1945
Samuel Walker Houston (February 12, 1864 – November 19, 1945) was an American teacher, academic administrator, newspaper proprietor, newspaper editor, and black school founder. He was born enslaved, and later became a pioneer in the field of education in…
Loading image…Born 1805
Sancho Saunders (born 1805) was a member of the South Carolina's House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era. He represented Chester County, South Carolina. He was documented as a literate Baptist minister who was a slave before the American…
Biography
Sanders Ford (c.1810 - 1873) was a farmer and state legislator in South Carolina. He was elected to represent Fairfield County, South Carolina in the South Carolina Senate in 1872, and died in office in 1873. Ford was born in South Carolina and enslaved.
1946–2017
Sandi Russell (January 16, 1946 – June 23, 2017) was an American jazz singer and writer who later settled in England. Her book Render Me My Song: African-American Women Writers from Slavery to the Present was influential in efforts to bring women into the…
Loading image…1793–1869
Sandy Cornish (1793–1869) was an African American farmer, businessperson, and civic leader in Key West, Florida. As a former slave who purchased his freedom, he publicly maimed himself to prevent being returned to slavery.
1837–1918
Sara Griffith Stanley Woodward (1837 – 1918) was an African American abolitionist, missionary teacher, and published author. Sara, sometimes listed as "Sarah", came from a biracial family, of which both black and white sides owned slaves. Despite this…
Biographies, museum objects and archive records are distinct card types. Every card links to its historical source.
