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The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of people, African Americans, and whites, offering shelter and aid to escaped slaves from the South. The earliest mention of the Underground Railroad came in 1831 when slave Tice Davids escaped and his owner blamed an “underground railroad” for helping Davids to freedom. Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor for the Underground Railroad. Born a slave named Araminta Ross, she took the name Harriet in 1849 when she escaped a plantation in Maryland. -
New York hosts the first National Anti-Slavery Society Convention.
Approximately 200 women gathered in New York City to discuss their role in the American abolition movement. The attendees included women of color, the wives and daughters of slaveholders, and women of low economic status. The convention was a monumental step, both for the women's rights movement, and the abolition movement as a whole. Blacks in Pennsylvania and Mississippi lost the right to vote. In New York, the women petition for continued voting rights. -
"Black Code"
South Carolina enacts a "Black Code" by which slaves are denied the rights to assemble, produce food, earn money, learn to read and to possess any clothing but low-quality garments. -
Prigg vs. Pennsylvania
Margaret Morgan, a black woman, went to Maryland when she was set free by her owner John Ashmore. Ashmore's heirs wanted her back as a slave and sent Prigg to capture her. After returning Morgan, Prigg was convicted in a Pennsylvania court for violating the 1826 law. Prigg unsuccessfully argued before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that both the 1788 and 1826 laws violated the constitutional guarantee of extradition among states and the federal government's Fugitive Slave Law of 1793. -
Texas enters the Union as a slave state.
Texas was admitted into the Union as the 28th state when President James Polk signed the annexation measure. On December 29, 1845, Texas entered the United States as a slave state, broadening the irrepressible differences in the United States over the issue of slavery and setting off the Mexican-American War. -
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Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was born into slavery around 1799 in Southampton County, Virginia. The Dred Scott case was a decade-long fight for freedom by a Black enslaved man named Dred Scott. The case persisted through several courts and ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court, whose decision angered abolitionists and gave momentum to the anti-slavery movement. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Seneca Falls hosts the first Women's Rights Convention. Women's rights activists, such as Amy Post, Angelina Grimke, and Susan B. Anthony, become outspoken opponents of slavery. The Seneca Falls Convention fought for the social, civil and religious rights of women. The convention proceeded to discuss the 11 resolutions on women’s rights. All passed unanimously except for the ninth resolution, which demanded the right to vote for women. -
Black Seminoles
In 1850, a group of Black Seminoles and Seminole Indians escaped south across Texas to the desert badlands of northern Mexico. They established a free settlement and began to attract runaway slaves from across the border. Approximately 300 Seminoles and blacks in Texas head to Mexico, where enslavement is prohibited, inspiring others to follow. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Passed on September 18, 1850, by Congress, The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning and trying escaped slaves. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
This tells the story of Uncle Tom, a slave. While being transported by boat to auction in New Orleans, Tom saves the life of Little Eva, whose father then purchases Tom. Eva and Tom soon become great friends. Eva’s health begins to decline rapidly, and on her deathbed, she asks her father to free all his slaves. He makes plans to do so but is then killed, and the brutal Simon Legree, Tom’s new owner, has Tom whipped to death after he refuses to divulge the whereabouts of certain runaway slaves.
