Henson, Matthew (1866-1955)

(1845) Frederick Douglass, “My Slave Experience in Maryland”

Frederick Douglass described his early life in an address titled, “My Slave Experience in Maryland, in a speech delivered in New York City on May 6, 1845. The speech, which was reprinted in the National Antislavery Standard on May 22, 1845, appears below. Douglass had just completed his first

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Source: Black Past

Fighting for Freedom on Both Sides of the American Revolution

Alan Gilbert, University of Denver political scientist and anti-racist activist, is the author of Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence, one of the few works that examines the free and enslaved blacks who joined the American Patriots and the British

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Source: Black Past

The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed | An Online Reference Guide to African American History by Professor Quintard Taylor, University of Washington

1603 Mathieu Da Costa, a free black explorer, guides the French through parts of Canada and the Lake Champlain region of what is now New York state. 1603

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Source: Black Past

Henry Highland Garnet born a slave

Henry Highland Garnet, minister, abolitionist and diplomat, born a slave in Kent County, Maryland.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

23

1815

Freddy Adu

Freddy Adu of Tema, Ghana, was born in 1989 and moved to the United States with his family at the age of eight. Adu had a nag for soccer from a young age and began competing in neighborhood matches at the age of four. From then on, Adu practiced every day to make his game

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Source: Black History Resources

Black Soldiers in the Civil War | National Archives

The issues of emancipation and military service were intertwined from the onset of the Civil War. News from Fort Sumter set off a rush by free black men to enlist in U.S. military units. They wereturned away, however, because a Federal law dating from 1792 barred Negroes from bearing arms for the

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Source: Archives Library Information Center (ALIC)

Jul

17

1862

Johnson, Anthony (? – 1670)

Anthony Johnson was the first prominent black landholder in the English colonies. Johnson arrived in Virginia in 1621 aboard the James. It is uncertain if Johnson arrived as an indentured servant or as a slave, early records list him as “Antonio, a Negro.” Regardless of his

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Source: Black Past

Dominique Dawes

One of the most renowned names in the history of American gymnastics, Dominique Dawes was born in November 20, 1976 in Silver Spring, Maryland. Dawes recognized her passion for gymnastics at an early age of 6 years and attended lessons with Kelli Hill who remained her coach for the rest of

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Source: Black History Resources

Nov

20

1976

Mfume, Kweisi (Frizzel Gray) (1948 - )

Kweisi Mfume was born as Frizzel Gray in Baltimore, Maryland on October 24, 1948, the eldest of four children. Gray experienced a troubled childhood with the abandonment of his father and death of his mother as well as economic instability, but made a successful return to his academic studies in

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Source: Black Past

Feb

15

1996

Adu, Freddy (1989-- )

Fredua Koranteng Adu, known to much of the world as Freddy Adu was born June 2, 1989 in the port city of Tema, Ghana. Growing up in Ghana, Freddy often received attention for his tremendous soccer skills as a youngster. Even at a young age he was asked by older kids and even adults to participate

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Source: Black Past

Jul

28

2007

Faith Congregational Church [Hartford] (1819- )

The Faith Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut began in 1819 as a place for African Americans to worship on their own since they were previously only able to worship in the backs of churches and in church galleries in that city. A group of African Americans began worshipping in the

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Source: Black Past

Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland,

Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland, summer. She returned to the South nineteen times and brought out more than three hundred slaves.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Dec

6

1849

Early History of African American Inventors

Thomas Jennings, born in 1791, is believed to have been the first African-American inventor to receive a patent for an invention. He was 30 years old when he was granted a patent for a dry-cleaning process. Jennings was a free tradesman and operated a dry-cleaning business in New York City. His

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Source: ThoughtCo

The Creole Case (1841)

The Creole Case was the result of an American slave revolt in November 1841 on board the Creole, a ship involved in the United States coastwise slave trade. As a consequence of the revolt, 128 enslaved people won their freedom in the Bahamas, then a British possession. Because of the number of

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Source: Black Past

Maryland legally recognizes the institution of slavery;passes law enslaving al

Maryland legally recognizes the institution of slavery; passes law enslaving all imported Africans; freeborn English women who marry black slaves are enslaved, as are the childred of such unions.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1663

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, was a child of the slave quarters on the Bro

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, was a child of the slave quarters on the Broadas Plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland) was born sometime around 1820.

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Jan

0

1820

Black History Month Special Feature, 2012 - Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project

Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project

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Source: Black Past

Henson, Matthew (1866-1955)

Matthew Henson was an American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary, most famously on an expedition intended to reach the Geographic North Pole in 1909. Subsequent research and exploration has revealed that Peary and Henson did not reach the North Pole but their failed attempt is still recognized

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Source: Black Past

Aug

18

1909

Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church [Philadelphia] (1794- )

Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in the nation, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1794 by Richard Allen, a former slave. Allen founded Mother Bethel AME after the church he had been attending, St. George’s Methodist

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Source: Black Past

Jul

29

1794

Togo

Togo, twice the size of Maryland, is on the south coast of West Africa bordering on Ghana to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Benin to the east. The Gulf of Guinea coastline, only 32 mi long (51 km), is low and sandy. The only port is at Lomé. The Togo hills traverse the central

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Martin Luther King Press Conference

CREATED BY

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Source: Black History and Culture

Feb

6

1990

Bailey, Thurl Lee (1961– )

Thurl Lee Bailey is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1983 to 1999 with the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves. Bailey has also beena broadcast analyst for the Utah Jazz and the University of Utah and aninspirational

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Source: Black Past

Dec

31

1995

(1850) Samuel Ringgold Ward, “Speech on the Fugitive Slave Bill”

Samuel Ringgold Ward (1817-1864), was one of the most prominent of the anti-slavery speakers in the nation by the 1850s. Born into slavery in Maryland, he escaped with his mother to New Jersey. In 1834 when he was 17 Ward was attacked by a pro-slavery mob in New York and was temporarily

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Source: Black Past

Apr

5

1850

Johnston, Joshua (c.a. 1763 - 1832)

Joshua Johnston, also known as Joshua Johnson, was a portraitist active in Baltimore, Maryland between 1790 and 1825, and the first African American to gain recognition as an artist. Primarily a painter of members of the slave-holding aristocracy, he was rediscovered by Baltimore genealogist and

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Source: Black Past

Jul

15

1782

Thomas, Gerald E. (1929- )

Former Naval officer Gerald Eustis Thomas served as United States Ambassador to Guyana and Kenya. Born in Natick, Massachusetts on June 23, 1929 to Walter and Leila Thomas, President Ronald W. Reagan appointed Gerald E. Thomas to both

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Source: Black Past

(1864) Abraham Lincoln “Address at a Sanitary Fair"

During the Civil War Northerners organized sanitary fairs to raise funds on behalf of the United States Sanitary Commission, a charitable relief organization which promoted the welfare of Union Soldiers. President Abraham Lincoln addressed one such fair in Baltimore, Maryland on April

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Source: Black Past

Apr

18

1864

Reed-Rowe, Helen (1949- )

Ambassador Helen Reed-Rowe was a career diplomat with the U.S. Foreign Service. Reed-Rowe was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1949 to Gladys and John W. Reed, Sr. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, College Park and her Master of Arts degree in National Security

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Source: Black Past

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland (1785- )

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Bethel A.M.E.), Baltimore lays claim to the designation as the oldest independent continuously operating African American church in the state of Maryland tracing its origins back to 1785 when a group of African Americans met at the Strawberry Alley

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Source: Black Past

Murphy, John Henry, Sr. (1840-1922)

Born on December 25, 1840, in Baltimore, Maryland, John Henry Murphy grew up as a slave and freed by the Emancipation Act of 1863. He enlisted in the military at age 24, during the Civil War and quickly progressed to the rank of Sergeant by the end of the conflict. When he returned home to

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Source: Black Past

Dec

25

1840

Henrietta Lacks and the Debate Over the Ethics of Bio-Medical Research

In the article below Clarence Spigner, DrPH., Professor of Health Services in the School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, briefly describes the saga of Henrietta Lacks whose cells have been used without her family’s permission for over sixty years of bio-medical

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Source: Black Past

Oct

4

1951

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