African American Authors

Timeline created by africanamericanlit in Art and Culture

Timeline Text view

Event Date:	Event Title:	Event Description:
17th Oct, 1711	Jupiter Hammon	Jupiter Hammon was born into slavery on Long Island, New York.
15th Jun, 1729	Birth of Venture Smith	Venture Smith, originally named Broteer Furro, was born somewhere in West Africa to a prince who had several wifes.
15th Jun, 1753	Birth of Phillis Wheatly	Phillis Weatly is born in West African. However, her exact birth date is not known.
15th Jun, 1760	Briton Hammon is Published	Briton Hammon publishes The Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man in Boston. It is one of the oldest known African American autobiographies.
25th Dec, 1760	An Evening Thought- Jupiter Hammon	Jupiter Hammon's poem "An Evening Thought. Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries" is published and he becomes the first known published African American writer in America.
15th Jun, 1765	Venture Smith is Free!	Venture Smith is finally able to buy his own freedom for seventy-one pounds and two shillings.
15th Jun, 1773	Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral	Phillis Wheatly publishes Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in London.
5th Dec, 1784	Phillis Wheatly Dies	Phillis Wheatly dies from child birth complications at the age of 31.
28th Sep, 1785	Birth of David Walker	David Walker was born a free man in Wilmington, North Carolina to an enslaved father and free mother.
15th Jun, 1797	George Horton is Born	George Moses Horton is born into slvery on a tabacco farm in Chatham County, North Carolina.
15th Jun, 1803	Maria Stewart Born	Maria Stewart is born in Hartford, Connecticut.
9th Oct, 1805	Venture Smith Dies	Venture Smith dies in Haddam Neck, Connecticut on his own farm.
15th Jun, 1806	Jupiter Hammon's Death	Although the exact date of Jupuer Hammon's death is unknown, it is known that he died before 1806
6th May, 1812	Martin R. Delany Born	Martin R. Delany is born to a free mother and enslaved father in Charles Town, West Virginia. Because his mother is free he is bor free. However, when he was young, people tried to enslave him, his mother, and his sister. Thankfully, his mother was able to fight for their freedom though.
24th Sep, 1825	Frances E. W. Harper is Born	Frances E. W. Harper is born in Baltimore, Maryland to free parents. However, her mother dies when she is three years old and she was then raised by her aunt and uncle.
15th Jun, 1829	George Horton is Published	Horton's first collection of poetry, The Hope of Liberty, is published.
15th Jun, 1829	Robert A. Young Publishes Ethiopian Manifesto	Robert A. Young Publishes Ethiopian Manifesto
15th Sep, 1829	Appeal To the Coloured Citizens of the World	David Walker's Appeal To the Coloured Citizens of the World was published by a Boston printer. A price was put on his head by southern slave owners.
28th Jun, 1830	David Walker's Death	David Walker dies in Charlestown, MA a few months before his yongest son was born.
9th Oct, 1854	Frances Harper Publishes	Harper's second book Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects is published. Her first book, Forest Leaves, was published in 1845 but has been lost.
15th May, 1859	Martin Delany Travels to Liberia and London	Martin Delany travels to Liberia in order to start a new black nation. However his plans never worked out. After leaving Liberia, he went to London and as honored by the International Statistical Congress.
17th Dec, 1879	Maria Stewart Dies	Maria Stewart dies in Washington DC.
15th Jun, 1883	George Horton Dies	Horton dies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he moved to after the Civil War.
24th Jan, 1885	Martin R. Delany Dies	Martin R. Delany dies of tuberculosis in Charleston.
22nd Feb, 1911	Frances Harper Dies	Frances Harper Dies