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W. M. Mitchell's The Underground Railroad - A Firsthand Account of the Struggle for Freedom
William M. Mitchell (circa 1826 to circa 1879) was a free-born Black overseer in North Carolina who, after 12 years managing slaves on a plantation, experienced a religious awakening, condemned slavery, left North Carolina for Ohio, and became...
Definition
Oyo Empire
The Oyo Empire flourished from the 17th to 19th century CE in what is today southwest Nigeria. The Oyo forged an empire thanks to their formidable cavalry units and so came to dominate other Yoruba peoples of the region. The Oyo Empire, with...
Definition
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama (c. 1469-1524) was a Portuguese navigator who, in 1497-9, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa and arrived at Calicut (now Kozhikode) on the south-west coast of India. This was the first direct voyage from...
Definition
Side
Side (pronounced see-day) was a city on the southern coast of Cilicia (modern-day Turkey) first settled in the 7th century BCE by immigrants from Cyme, an Aeolian municipality to the north near the kingdom of Lydia. Its name means 'pomegranate'...
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The Fugitive Slave Act: Compelling Compliance with Evil (Black Culture)
In 1850, one of America's History's Worst Laws was Passed: The Fugitive Slave Act. What can be described as one of the darkest days in America’s history, which would ultimately lead to the American Civil War, a bloody conflict that saw hundreds...
Article
Native American Enslavement in Colonial America
Slavery was practiced by the Native Americans before any Europeans arrived in the region. People of one tribe could be taken by another for a variety of reasons but, whatever the reason, it was understood that the enslaved had done something...
Definition
Wolof Empire
The Wolof (aka Jolof or Djolof) Empire was a state on the coast of West Africa, located between the Senegal and Gambia rivers, which thrived from the mid-14th to mid-16th century CE. The empire prospered on trade thanks to the two rivers...
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Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan, or Fernão de Magalhães (c. 1480-1521), was a Portuguese mariner whose expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1519-22 in the service of Spain. Magellan was killed on the voyage in what is today the Philippines...
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Ellen and William Craft's Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom
Ellen and William Craft's Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (1860) tells the story of the couple's escape from slavery, with Ellen disguised as a young, White gentleman of means and William as her slave. They successfully traveled to the...
Article
Roman Expeditions in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa was explored by Roman expeditions between 19 BCE - 90 CE, most likely in an effort to locate the sources of valuable trade goods and establish routes to bring them to the seaports on the coast of North Africa, thereby minimizing...