Chile decrees the abolition of slavery

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...

Haiti adopted a constitution prohibiting slavery and naming its citizens Black. The declaration challenged colonial color divisions and asserted dignity after independence. This political rejection of...

The Slave Trade Act received royal assent after extensive campaigning. It prohibited British participation in the slave trade, but did not free people already enslaved in British colonies....

Enslaved men and women launched a carefully organized rebellion in Barbados. Leaders used plantation networks to coordinate resistance. Although colonial forces defeated the uprising, participants’...

Thousands of enslaved people in Demerara-Essequibo rose against slavery. Many sought to force negotiations rather than kill plantation owners. Colonial repression crushed the uprising, but the...

Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm began publishing Freedom’s Journal in New York. The newspaper countered hostile representations and enabled Black writers to speak for themselves. Independent...

President Vicente Guerrero abolished slavery in the republic. The decree helped dismantle an institution inherited from colonial rule. Guerrero’s African ancestry also challenges histories that...

President Andrew Jackson signed legislation authorizing negotiated removal of Indigenous nations to lands west of the Mississippi. In practice, pressure and coercion made removal devastating. The...

The Liberator began publication in Boston and demanded an immediate end to slavery. Black readers and supporters helped sustain the newspaper. Print campaigning connected local organizing with a wider...