Abolitionism: Did you mean...?

Henry Box Brown (l. c. 1815-1897) was an enslaved African American who became famous as "the man who mailed himself to freedom" after he had himself shipped in a box from Richmond, Virginia, to abolitionists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

Harriet Jacobs (l. c. 1813-1897) was a former slave, abolitionist, and author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), her autobiography, describing her life as a slave in North Carolina, her flight to freedom in the North, and her...

William Still (1819-1902) was an African American abolitionist known as the "Father of the Underground Railroad" for his efforts in helping to free between 600 to 800 people from slavery. Born the son of formerly enslaved parents, Still devoted...

Denmark Vesey (c. 1767-1822) was a free Black man living in Charleston, South Carolina, as a carpenter and community leader. A former slave himself, Vesey became involved in the antislavery movement and was accused of planning a large-scale...

Anna Maria Weems (circa 1840 to circa 1863) was an enslaved African American woman in Rockville, Maryland, who escaped by posing as a young Black livery man and carriage driver, assisted by the Underground Railroad, in September 1855. She...

Lear Green (circa 1839-1860) was an enslaved African American woman in Baltimore, Maryland, who had herself shipped in a chest to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to escape slavery. Her story is frequently compared to that of Henry Box Brown (circa...

Mary Prince (l. c. 1788 to c. 1833) was the first enslaved Black woman to publish an autobiography/slave narrative. Prince was illiterate but dictated her life story to the writer Susanna Strickland (l. 1803-1885), published in 1831 as The...

Passmore Williamson (1822-1895) was a Quaker abolitionist, successful businessman, and member of the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Williamson helped many slaves gain freedom, among them Henry Box Brown (circa 1815 to...

A portrait of Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette (center) at the Siege of Yorktown; on the right is depicted James Armistead, an enslaved African American spy who gathered intelligence on the British army to deliver to the marquis. After...

There was actually only one cause for the American Civil War: slavery. All the events leading to the Civil War, understood as steps moving steadily up the conflict, had slavery as the underlying cause for upset and increasing division between...