New York’s gradual emancipation law frees the remaining enslaved residents

Independence from Portugal created a new state that maintained slavery and the Atlantic trade. Enslaved Africans and their descendants shaped Brazilian society and resisted bondage, while political...

The society formed to campaign against slavery across the British Empire. Its early focus on gradualism was challenged by activists such as Elizabeth Heyrick, who argued for immediate emancipation....

Thousands of enslaved people in Demerara rose against plantation authority. They organized across estates and sought freedom, amid rumors that emancipation had been granted in Britain but withheld...

Charles X issued an ordinance recognizing Haiti’s independence on the condition that Haiti compensate former colonists, including for the loss of enslaved people claimed as property. The imposed...

The treaty set a date after which Brazilian participation in the African slave trade would be illegal under the agreement. Enforcement was weak and Brazilian trafficking continued at a massive scale...

President Guerrero decreed abolition across the republic, with limited exceptions and uneven enforcement in frontier regions. The measure followed independence-era abolitionist policies and...

The first issue of The Liberator appeared in Boston, calling for immediate emancipation. Black writers, speakers, and organizers were central to the abolitionist movement, even when white editors...

Turner and a group of enslaved people began an uprising in Southampton County that challenged slavery through armed action. White authorities violently suppressed the revolt and killed many Black...

A mass strike and uprising began in western Jamaica during Christmas. Samuel Sharpe and other organizers used church networks to coordinate a demand for freedom and wages; the movement escalated...

The act ended slavery in most British colonies, with implementation beginning in 1834, but imposed an apprenticeship system and compensated enslavers rather than the formerly enslaved. Enslaved people...