US Fugitive Slave Act strengthens the capture of freedom seekers

The Aberdeen Act authorized British courts to treat Brazilian slave ships as pirate vessels and increased Britain’s power to intercept them. It pressured Brazil while extending British imperial...

The French Provisional Government decreed the abolition of slavery in French colonies. The decree followed the revolution in France and sustained resistance by enslaved and free people across the...

News of the French emancipation decree triggered revolt in Martinique. The uprising helped force local authorities to proclaim emancipation before the decree’s scheduled implementation. Enslaved...

After an uprising and mass mobilization on St. Croix, von Scholten proclaimed emancipation. The decree followed collective action by enslaved people and ended legal slavery in the islands, though...

The law prohibited the importation of enslaved Africans and strengthened enforcement against the Atlantic trade. It did not free people already enslaved, and the domestic slave trade expanded as...

Black residents of Christiana resisted an armed attempt to seize freedom seekers under the Fugitive Slave Act; slaveholder Edward Gorsuch was killed in the confrontation. Federal authorities...

The novel appeared in book form and quickly became a major antislavery text. It helped shape public debate but also circulated racial stereotypes and displaced Black authors’ direct testimony in...

The abolition law ended legal slavery after years of petitions, uprisings, and military service by Afro-Venezuelans. Compensation went to enslavers rather than formerly enslaved people, and formal...

The act organized Kansas and Nebraska territories and allowed settlers to decide whether slavery would be permitted, repealing the Missouri Compromise restriction. It intensified armed conflict and...

President Castilla decreed abolition during a political crisis. Enslaved people had escaped, negotiated, and joined military forces; the government compensated owners while formerly enslaved people...