Nat Turner’s revolt confronts slavery in Virginia

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...

Resistance organized around Samuel Sharpe’s demand for freedom and paid labor developed into armed rebellion in western Jamaica. Colonial repression was severe. The struggle shows enslaved people...

The Supreme Court held that Georgia’s laws had no force within Cherokee territory. The case supported Cherokee arguments against state intrusion. Judicial recognition did not prevent forced removal,...

The House of Commons completed the third reading of the Slavery Abolition Bill. The parliamentary outcome followed antislavery mobilization and resistance in the colonies. Provisions for...

The abolition act took effect in most British colonies, while many formerly enslaved people were required to work as apprentices. Enslavers received compensation; emancipated people did not receive...

A party led by Governor James Stirling attacked a Bindjareb Noongar camp at Pinjarra. Calling the event a “battle” obscured the unequal violence inflicted on the community. Colonial control of land...