1804
New Jersey enacts a gradual emancipation law.
1806
On October 25, Benjamin Banneker dies.
1807-1808
Britain and the United States outlaw the Atlantic slave trade.
1832
In response to the Nat Turner Revolt, Maryland’s legislature prohibits free blacks from entering the state. At the same time, the legislature bars free blacks from owning firearms without a certificate from county officials and outlaws the sale of alcohol, powder, and shot to blacks. The legislation also impinges upon black churches, as blacks can no longer hold religious meetings unless a white minister is present.
1833
Reeling from a massive slave revolt in Jamaica (1831) and bowing to abolitionist pressure, Britain emancipates 800,000 slaves in its remaining New World colonies.
1838
Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery in Baltimore.
1845
Frederick Douglass’ autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is published.
1846
Rev. Charles Torrey dies in the Maryland Penitentiary. An abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor, he was among many who were arrested and imprisoned for aiding, enticing or assisting enslaved blacks to run away.
1848
Denmark and France abolish slavery in their overseas colonies.
1849
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery. In the years that follow, she mounts numerous missions into Maryland’s Eastern Shore to lead enslaved blacks to freedom.
1818
Frederick Douglass is born in Talbot County, Maryland.
Author, clergyman, and abolitionist Samuel Ringgold Ward is born on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
1822
Harriet Tubman is born in Dorchester County, Maryland.
1825
Writer and abolitionist, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, is born in Baltimore to free parents.
Frederick Douglass
Harriet Tubman
1831
The Maryland Colonization Society forms to colonize Maryland blacks in Africa.
On August 21, Nat Turner leads slave revolt in Southampton, Virginia
Nat Turner
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