People, Locations, Episodes

Tanya Chutkan, Lawyer, and Judge born

*Tanya Chutkan was born on this date. She is an Afro Caribbean lawyer and judge. Tanya Sue Chutkan was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 from George Washington University and a Juris Doctor in 1987 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. From 1987 to 1990, she worked at the Hogan & […]

Robben Island, South African Prison, a story

*Robben Island was established on this date in 1448. Robben Island is a roughly oval landmass in Table Bay, 4.3 miles west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It is a former maximum-security prison used by Dutch and British colonizers during the apartheid regime. It takes its name from the […]

The Treaty of Tordesillas is Signed

*The Treaty of Tordesillas or Tratado de Tordesilhas was signed on this date in 1494. It was signed in Tordesillas, Spain, and authenticated in Setúbal, Portugal, and revealed the 15th-century intersection between Africa and European slavery. The treaty divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Crown of Castile, along a […]

Jacques Francis, Slave Diver, and Trial Witness born

*This date in 1527 is celebrated as the birth date of Jacques Francis, A Black British slave salvage diver. Francis was from Arguin Island, Mauritania. However, records at the time described him as a “Guinea diver” and exceptionally talented. He had been working for Piero Corsi on a 1546 salvage attempt of the Mary Rose, […]

Anthony Johnson, Indentured Servant Owner born

*Anthony Johnson’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1606. He was an African slave and farmer and one of the first Black property owners in colonial America. He was a tobacco farmer in Maryland and had his right to own a slave recognized by the Virginia courts legally. There is no information about his […]

Black History and American Police Brutality, a story

*Black history and American police brutality are affirmed on this date in 1619. The expendable pattern of Black lives intersecting with American law enforcement did not begin with Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Brionna Taylor, or George Floyd.  To understand the systemic racism embedded in American police forces, you must look back at the racial order in the United States […]

Johnson v. Parker is Decided

*On this date, in 1655, Johnson v. Parker was decided. This case involved the designation of indentured servitude and slavery. The Northampton County Court ruled in favor of Anthony Johnson, whose slave, John Casor, ran away and claimed to be an indentured servant. The court charged Johnson’s neighbor, Robert Parker, with having “most unjustly kept” […]

The Barbados Slave Code is enacted

*The Barbados Slave Code was enacted on this date in 1661. Officially titled as An Act for the better ordering and governing of Negroes, it was a law passed by the Parliament of Barbados to provide a legal basis for slavery in the English colony of Barbados. Throughout British North America, slavery evolved in practice […]

The ‘For The Trial of Negros’ Act is signed

*The ‘For the Trial of Negroes’ Act was passed on this date in 1700. This colonial law was passed to socialize and control Black Africans in Delaware. This policy marked 150 years of discriminatory legislation to preserve chattel slavery in America. Blacks received more severe penalties than whites for crimes; they couldn’t carry weapons or assemble in […]

The Maroons Sign a Treaty with England

On this date in 1738, escaped African slaves and British settlers in Central America agreed to a conflict truce.

The articles of pacification from the English with the “Maroons” of Trelawny Town, Jamaica occurred on this date. The Maroons were escaped African slaves with communities in North, Central, and South America. The term Maroon derives from the Spanish word Cimarron. This word was first put on runaway cattle before it came to signify escaped African slaves. The first known Maroon was a slave who escaped from a boat in 1502.

Theodore Sedgwick, Lawyer and Slave Owner born.

*Theodore Sedgwick was born on this date in 1746. He was a white-American attorney, slave owner, and politician. Born in West Hartford in the Connecticut Colony, Sedgwick was the son of Benjamin Sedgwick. His paternal immigrant ancestor, Major General Robert Sedgwick, arrived in 1636 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Sedgwick attended Yale College, where he […]

The Treaty of Paris is Signed

*On this date, in 1763, the Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed. It was signed by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France, and Spain, with Portugal in agreement, after Great Britain and Prussia’s victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years’ War.   The treaty’s signing formally ended […]

Rose Fortune, Law Enforcement Officer born

*The birth of Rose Fortune in 1774 is celebrated on this date. She was a Black law enforcement officer and businesswoman.

Fortune was born into slavery in Virginia, owned by the Devone family. They escaped to New York City then the Nova Scotia (Canada) town of Annapolis Royal in 1783 when she was ten years old. Fortune came from a family of Black Loyalists, (escaped slaves and free Blacks who joined the British army during the American Revolution to find liberty). The British army promised any slave freedom in return for their loyalty.

Roger B. Taney, Lawyer, and Judge born

*Roger Brooke Taney was born on this date in 1777. He was a White American lawyer and judge who supported slavery.

Knight v. Wedderburn is Upheld

*On this date in 1778, the Justices of the Peace court in Perth Scotland ruled on the case of Knight v. Wedderburn. This Scottish slavery decision predated the very similar Dred Scott ruling in America.