Nat Turner’s rebellion begins in Virginia

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...

The date set by the 1817 gradual emancipation law arrived, ending legal slavery for the remaining enslaved people in New York. The long delay meant that many people continued to live under slavery...

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...

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...

Delegates at a national antislavery convention adopted a declaration demanding the immediate abolition of slavery. The meeting followed years of Black organizing, petitions, and resistance, and...

Three days after the national antislavery convention, a group of women met and organized a female antislavery society. Black women were members and leaders, although later narratives often...

The Slavery Abolition Act took effect across most British colonies. Many adults were placed in “apprenticeship,” a coercive labor system that required continued unpaid work for former enslavers....