A Black history blog highlighting the stories of enslaved peoples, their ancestors, their descendants, and stories from the African diaspora.
Dedicated to my grandparents who grew up in time where their images and stories were not widely celebrated or acknowledged.
For Harold, Etta, Tommie, & Ella
Please excuse the mess; I’m currently reformatting old posts.
Thomas Downing (1791–1866) was an American restaurateur and abolitionist active in New York City during the Victorian era who was nicknamed the "New York Oyster King". He was one of the wealthiest people in New York City at the time of his death, though he spent his life being prohibited from acquiring U.S. citizenship until the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed, the day before he died.
Read MoreHenry “Box” Brown (c. 1815 – June 15, 1897) was a 19th-century Virginia slave who escaped to freedom at the age of 33 by arranging to have himself mailed in a wooden crate in 1849 to abolitionists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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