African Muslim rebels rise in Salvador

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...

Northern Māori rangatira signed He Whakaputanga, asserting independent authority and collective government. It provides a record of Indigenous political agency before the Treaty of Waitangi. The...

Armed men killed at least twenty-eight Wirrayaraay people, many of them women and children, at Myall Creek. The massacre reveals the violence of settler expansion. The later prosecution was unusual,...

The compulsory apprenticeship system ended early following resistance, criticism, and political pressure. Ending it removed a major restriction on formerly enslaved people’s work. Plantation power...

Frederick Douglass escaped from Maryland with assistance from Anna Murray. His pursuit of freedom preceded his public career as an abolitionist. Escape networks, personal risk, and community support...

Seven men were convicted after a second trial concerning the Myall Creek killings. Testimony and renewed prosecution overcame an earlier acquittal. The result challenged the practical impunity of...