#antislavery

Continuing on with the subject that certain "patriotic" government officials really don't want you learning about, today we look at the monumental accomplishments of Abraham Galloway. Born enslaved in 1837 North Carolina, Galloway was the son of a white boatman and an enslaved woman, Hester Hankins. At the age of 20 he escaped aboard a coal ship, remaining hidden below decks for weeks until reaching Philadelphia, and then (by way of the Underground Railroad) ultimately to Canada.

While in Canada Galloway wasn't content to merely enjoy his freedom; he became vocally active in militant abolitionist circles. It might be argued that he had in him a fierce desire to see the entire institution that had once enslaved him --and all of its supporting structure-- to be burned entirely to the ground. (I guess today's FBI would classify him as an NVE; "Nihilistic Violent Extremist.") Once the Civil War was underway, Galloway returned to the South, not only as a recruiter (advocating to fill the ranks of what would eventually become Gen. Edward Wild's African Brigade and also pushing for equal pay for Black soldiers and educational opportunities for their children and families), but also as a spy.

As the war waned, Galloway didn't exactly let up; he merely shifted his focus to the political struggle for equal treatment. He even registered Black voters --something largely unthinkable at the time-- and organized the Equal Rights League, which lobbied for rights for freed people: including education, protection from violence, and the right to vote. Galloway and the league then organized North Carolina's first Freedmen's Convention, held in Raleigh in September 1865, to represent the interests of the state's Black population as the constitutional convention convened across town. Unpolished and impatient, Galloway spoke at rallies with armed guards close at hand, mindful that he was very much on a Ku Klux Klan target list.

1780 - Pennsylvania became the first state to pass an Abolition Act. This legislation began ending slavery through gradual emancipation. Gradual emancipation became the model followed in the Northern states include Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey from the 1780s to the 1820s. Gradual emancipation typically freed people born after a certain date and children born to enslaved people, while others were kept enslaved until they reached a certain age or for the remainder of their lives. By the 1840s these states no longer had enslaved people except in New Jersey where there were still 16 people in enslavement until 1865. New Hampshire never legally abolished slavery, but was also effectively a free state by the 1840s.

1783 - Enslaved people in Massachusetts sued for their freedom stating that they should be free under the new Massachusetts state constitution. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court agreed, effectively making Massachusetts the first state to fully abolish slavery.

1791 - Vermont entered the Union as a new state with abolition of slavery encoded in the state constitution. Ohio, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, Oregon, Kansas, and Nevada also entered the Union as free states.

1808 - The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves goes into effect making the transatlantic slave trade illegal. However, since the children of enslaved women were considered property of the enslaver, slavery propagated within the United States and the domestic slave trade thrived. Smugglers also continued to traffic enslaved people from Africa and the Caribbean to the United States, with the latest known instance being the Clotilda arriving in Alabama in 1860.

April 12, 1861 - The American Civil War begins after eleven Southern states begin an insurrection against the Federal government. The key issue is the expansion of slavery to new states and territories which newly elected President Abraham Lincoln opposes. At the start of the war, the official position of Lincoln and the Federal government is that the war is to preserve the Union, not to end slavery.

January 1, 1863 - The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect freeing enslaved people in states in insurrection against the United States. This was primarily a military measure meant to deny the Southern insurrectionists the labor of enslaved people. The Emancipation Proclamation excluded the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri as well as parts of Louisiana and Virginia that were already under control of the Union Army. Since the Proclamation only applied to places not controlled by the Federal government, it effectively freed no one. However, enslaved people who escaped to the Union lines or were in territory subsequently captured by Federal troops were then permanently emancipated.

June 20, 1863 - The western counties of Virginia separate to form the new state of West Virginia, with gradual abolition written into the state constitution.

November 1, 1864 - Maryland abolishes slavery.

January 11, 1865 - Missouri abolishes slavery.

February 27, 1865 - Tennessee abolishes slavery.

June 19, 1865 - As the war was going poorly for the Confederacy, enslavers began sending enslaved people to Texas, the most remote of the slave states. Texas would be the final state to surrender to the Union. On June 19, Union Major General Gordon Grange declared all enslaved people free in accordance of the Emancipation Proclamation. This is the origin of Juneteenth.

December 18, 1865 - The Thirteenth Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 and after ratification by three-fourths of the states, it became effective on December 18. The Amendment effectively ended chattel slavery throughout the United States including Kentucky, Delaware, and the 16 enslaved people in New Jersey.

BUT…the Thirteenth Amendment also include a penal labor exemption, meaning that people convicted of crimes could be forced to perform labor. From the convict lease programs of the 19th century, the the chain gangs of the 20th century, to mass incarceration in the 21st century, penal labor has been abused while often being targeted against Black people.

"His soul is marching on!"

As a African domestic worker in 1850s California, Mary Ellen Pleasant eavesdropped on her wealthy clients so that she could learn how to invest her money wisely. She later used this knowledge to build a real estate empire — which was worth over $30 million.