Learn about enslavement, resistance, abolition and the struggle for freedom through biographies and historical records.
8,921 matching cards · 24 cards per page
1843–
Allen W. Wilder (born about 1843) was an American state legislator, teacher, and lawyer in Texas. He was born into slavery in North Carolina. He was possibly the first African American in Texas to become a lawyer. He served one term representing Washington…
Loading image…1858–1927
Alonzo "Lon" Franklin Herndon (June 26, 1858 Walton County, Georgia – July 21, 1927) was an African-American entrepreneur and businessman in Atlanta, Georgia. Born into slavery, he became Atlanta's first Black millionaire by owning and operating three…
Date not recorded
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGThe single volume of alphabetical lists of Claimants (57) covers the years 1866–67.
Dates not recorded
Alphonso M. Sumner was an African American man who opened Nashville, Tennessee's first Black school. Sumner was also a barber, a newspaper publisher, and a Northern abolitionist.
1753-1784
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGA wooden altered molding plane. There is evidence of dents, abrasions, and scratches, but the plane has a dark stain that obscures damage from past use. There is uneven staining and a minor checking crack at the stock toe bottom. In relief on the toe,…
Loading image…1822–1902
Alvin Aaron Coffey Sr. (1822–1902) was an American pioneer, homesteader, miner, and farmer in California; who was formerly enslaved. He is the only Black member of the California Society of Pioneers.
1913–2009
Alvin B. Aberdeen Duncan (27 February 1913 – 29 January 2009) was an African Canadian historian and a Royal Canadian Air Force veteran of World War II. Duncan's family is the only family known in Oakville, Ontario who were directly involved in the…
1838
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGA broadside from the 1838 New York governor election with an anti-Whig party message criticizing the Whig candidates’ platform that included advancing rights for African Americans. The campaign poster features a center illustration of a Black man and a…
Loading image…1849–1893
Amanda America Dickson (November 20, 1849 – June 11, 1893) was an African-American socialite in Georgia who became known as one of the wealthiest African-American women of the 19th century after inheriting a large estate from her white planter father. Born…
Loading image…1837–1915
Amanda Smith (née Berry; January 23, 1837 – February 24, 1915) was an American Methodist preacher and former slave who funded the Amanda Smith Orphanage and Industrial Home for Abandoned and Destitute Colored Children in Harvey, Illinois (outside Chicago).…
1861-1865
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGA black-and-white photograph of a an unidentified soldier, depicted from the waist up. He wears a button-down coat and a kepi and holds a rifle against his left shoulder. Image is in a full case lined with blue velvet and has a decorative gold metal frame.
1855-1860
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGThis 1/9 plate cased ambrotype depicts a white baby being held for the camera by a black man whose shoulder and hands are visible, but is otherwise unseen. The baby's cheeks have been tinted pink. The photograph is in a decorative copper-colored metal oval…
1855-1860
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGIn this 1/9 plate photograph, a young black woman in a plaid dress with a collar sits with a white baby on her lap. She wears two rings on her right finger. Her earrings, brooch, and rings have been hand-tinted gold, and her and the baby's cheeks have been…
ca. 1855
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGThis 1/4 plate ambrotype depicts a young black woman holding two white children. The children's cheeks have been hand-tinted pink. The ambrotype is housed in a brown case with faded red textile lining and has a gold metal oval frame with a decorative…
ca. 1860
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGIn black thermoplastic case with brass hinges and a gold medallion decoration and a purple lining is an ambrotype in a brass and paper preserver and mat of an African American woman with a white cap or headscarf in a patterned dress with a white collar and…
ca. 1860
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGThis black-and-white photograph is a portrait of a woman named Ann Hurst Copeland seated in a chair with her left elbow propped on a table. She wears a dark-colored striped silk dress with large bell sleeves and a rounded white collar. Her cheeks are…
early 1860s
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGA black-and-white photograph of Elisa Greenwell (a) accompanied by a handwritten paper note with identifying information (b). In the photograph, Greenwell is seated and faces the camera directly, with her right elbow propped on a table and both hands…
1855-1865
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGA black-and-white photograph of Frederick Douglass wearing a jacket, waistcoat, and bowtie. The wet plate ambrotype plates are housed in a folding leather case with tooled gilt oval mat and red velvet lining.
ca. 1860
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGThis black-and-white photograph is a portrait of John H. Copeland seated in a chair with his left elbow propped on a table. He faces straight to the camera and has his right thumb tucked into the opening of his jacket with his fingers in front of the…
1864 - 1865
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGAmbrotype of a soldier depicted seated on a wooden chair with one end of a P1853 Enfield musket held by his right hand near his right hip. The musket extends diagonally across his torso, its barrel held near his shoulder in the long fingers of his left…
1850-1870
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGA black-and-white photograph of three women seated in a row with their arms linked together at the elbows and their hands placed in their laps right-over-left. All three women wear dresses made from a dark fabric with light-colored polka dots. Each wears a…
1864
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGA cased ambrotype of Creed Miller, a soldier of the Kentucky 107th Regiment, Company E (and later Company C), United States Colored Troops. The ambrotype is encased in a copper scrolled frame with an oval window within a red velvet-lined, brown leather…
Loading image…1796–1856
Amelia Piper (c. 1796–1856) was a former slave and abolitionist, who organized anti-slavery fairs, was a manager of the New Bedford Female Union Society, and was a fundraiser for the abolition of slavery. She and her husband were conductors on the…
1842
FROM THE SOURCE CATALOGAmerican Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1842 published by S. W. Benedict. The almanac is printed on off white paper in black ink. Printed below the title is “CALCULATED FOR THE HORIZON AND MERIDIAN OF BOSTON, NEW YORK, / BALTIMORE, AND CHARLESTON: AND FOR USE IN…
Biographies, museum objects and archive records are distinct card types. Every card links to its historical source.
