Amistad captives win recognition of their freedom

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...

Seven men convicted of killing Wirrayaraay people at Myall Creek were hanged. The rare punishment shows a limited breach in the tolerance of colonial violence. It did not end dispossession or the...

Māori leaders signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi alongside Crown representatives. The Māori and English texts differed in important understandings of authority. Later struggles drew on promises of protection...

A confrontation followed settlers’ attempts to assert control over disputed land at Wairau. Ngāti Toa leaders contested the claimed sale. The deaths and subsequent controversy showed that settler...

Te Haratua and other Ngāpuhi cut down the flagstaff that symbolized British authority. Hōne Heke’s movement protested the Crown’s growing power and threats to chiefly autonomy. Symbolic action against...

Forces associated with Hōne Heke and Te Ruki Kawiti attacked Kororāreka and cut down the British flagstaff again. The conflict challenged the extension of Crown authority. Māori were not a single...

British forces attacked Puketutu during the Northern War. Māori defensive works and military strategy complicated the colonial advance. The conflict belonged to a struggle over authority after the...

A British assault on the pā at Ōhaeawai suffered severe losses. Defenders’ fortifications were designed to withstand artillery and expose attackers. The outcome challenges colonial claims of...