A British society organizes against the slave trade

Túpac Amaru II captured the Spanish official Antonio de Arriaga, beginning a major rebellion. Micaela Bastidas played a central organizational role. Resistance to forced labor, abusive officials,...

Túpac Amaru II’s forces executed Antonio de Arriaga after his capture. The act openly challenged Spanish colonial authority and officials associated with abusive extraction. It escalated a rebellion...

Colonial authorities publicly executed Túpac Amaru II, Micaela Bastidas, and other captured participants in Cusco. The spectacle aimed to terrorize communities and restore obedience. It shows how...

Elizabeth Freeman and Brom won a Massachusetts freedom suit against John Ashley. They used the state constitution’s equality principle to challenge enslavement. The decision demonstrates how...

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones founded the Free African Society in Philadelphia. Members supported people during illness and assisted widows and children. Such independent institutions strengthened...

Benjamin Banneker sent Thomas Jefferson his almanac and a letter challenging slavery and racial prejudice. A Black mathematician and astronomer used his own work to confront claims of intellectual...

A mass uprising began in northern Saint-Domingue during the night of 22–23 August. Enslaved Africans and their descendants attacked the plantation order. Their collective struggle transformed an...

A French law extended equal political rights to free men of color in the colonies. Their struggle against discriminatory status helped force the change. However, the law excluded enslaved people...

Civil commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax proclaimed emancipation in the northern province amid warfare and enslaved people’s resistance. Freedom came with labor obligations. The measure was a major...

France’s National Convention abolished slavery in its colonies after revolution in Saint-Domingue had already forced emancipation onto the agenda. Black political representatives and insurgents were...