Black Philadelphians petition Congress against slavery and kidnapping

An uprising began at the Knip plantation and spread as enslaved people demanded freedom. Tula argued against their continued enslavement in light of changes elsewhere in the Caribbean. The rebels...

Tula and other leaders were executed after the uprising was suppressed. Extreme punishment aimed to deter further collective resistance. Remembering their demands centers enslaved people’s struggle...

Ona Judge left the Philadelphia household of George and Martha Washington to seek freedom. Her escape challenged the power of even the republic’s most prominent family to own people. Self-emancipation...

Revolutionary manifestos appeared in Salvador during the Bahia Conspiracy. Participants included working people and people of African descent, with demands for liberty and an end to discriminatory...

Colonial authorities publicly executed four men involved in the Bahia Conspiracy. The punishment targeted a movement remembered for popular participation and challenges to racial inequality. Their...

Louis Delgrès confronted arriving French troops and issued a proclamation appealing against oppression. Resistance defended emancipation won during the revolutionary period. The conflict exposed the...

Surrounded by French forces, Louis Delgrès and companions died in an explosion at Matouba rather than surrender. Their last stand became a symbol of resistance to renewed enslavement. The event...

French forces arrested Toussaint Louverture and deported him to France. Removing a major Black leader was part of an effort to reassert imperial control. Resistance continued, demonstrating that the...

Haitian forces defeated the French at Vertières in a decisive battle preceding independence. People who had fought slavery defended their freedom against renewed colonial domination. Their military...

Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed Haiti’s independence after years of collective struggle. Formerly enslaved people had defeated attempts to restore French domination. Independence protected...