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• July 25, 1784- Prince Saunders, thought to be the author of “Theresa,” baptized in Lebanon, Connecticut. Prince Saunders was born in either Lebanon, Connecticut, or Thetford, Vermont, the son of Cuff Saunders and Phyllis (maiden name unknown).
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• 1787- African Free School founded in New York City by New York Manumission Society after the abolition of slavery in several Northern states. Curriculum included reading and writing. Samuel Cornish, editor of Freedom’s Journal, played key role in helping finance and expand the school.
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• 1791- slave uprising in Haiti led by Toussaint L’Ouverture. This event was the general setting for “Theresa.” Cole states on page 161 that L’Ouverture is first successful black revolutionary.
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• 1808-1814- Peninsular War. Napoleonic resistance, in Portugal referenced in “Military Sketch Book” published alongside “Theresa” in Freedom's Journal.
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• 1811 Saunders’ social and political involvement- Saunders became secretary of the African Masonic Society and founded the Belles Lettres Society, a literary group. He was engaged to daughter of emigrationist and sea captain Paul Cuffe. Engagement ended, but Saunders’ acquaintance with Cuffe encouraged his involvement with Pan-Africanism and the black colonization movement.
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• 1812 Martin Robinson Delany, author of "Blake: Or, the Huts of America," born in Charles Town, Virginia ,the son of Samuel Delany, a slave, and Pati Peace, a free black seamstress. In 1822 his mother moved the family to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, to avoid punishment for violating state law after whites discovered that she had taught her five children to read and write.
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• 1815 Saunders traveled to London to the Masonic Lodge of Africans. Met with abolitionist leaders William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson. As a result, Saunders focused his interest on Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere. He shared the British abolitionists' desire to anglicize Haiti. Made first visit to Haiti in 1816 where King Henri Christophe greeted him enthusiastically.
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• 1818 Richard Allen (founder of AME church) both denounced colonization as a trick of the newly organized American Colonization Society. Generally, African American and white abolitionists regarded the society as an organization seeking to protect slavery and counteract antislavery.
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• In Philadelphia, 1818, Saunders promoted colonization to the Caribbean, especially Haiti. Although it had been supported earlier by black leaders, by 1818 colonization had become intensely unpopular among blacks. Saunders persisted in his views, however, publishing in 1818 two pamphlets: An Address Delivered … before the Pennsylvania Augustine Society for Education of People of Color and A Memoir Presented to the American Convention for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.
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• 1820 Saunders settled in Haiti- He took with him letters from Philadelphia alleging the desire of thousands of free blacks to emigrate to Haiti. Tries to convince Haitian leadership to fund a ship to initiate colonization.
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• 1820- Missouri Compromise- When the Territory of Missouri applied for statehood, there was already a balance of 11 free and 11 slave states equally represented in the Senate. With the North and South looking to expand their interests in free or slave states respectively, the U.S. needed a solution for admitting new states as free or slave. The Missouri Compromise provided for Maine to be admitted as free and Missouri as slave, and designated territories north of Lousiana Purchase (with excepti
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• Summer 1822- Denmark Vesey gathers more than 9,000 supporters for slave uprising. In rallies, he references Virginia slave uprising of 1800 and the Haiti Revoloution for motivation. Uprising failed because of betrayal, but Vesey remained inspiration for slaves.
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• 1827- First issue of Freedom’s Journal. Contains editor note regarding purpose of Journal.
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• 1828 “Theresa—A Haytien Tale” released in the first of four installments in Freedom’s Journal
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"Antebellum ferment in women's roles became differentiated into two streams: one, more closely allied with family and religion, and the other, more secular and oriented to government and the law. Common to both was a fundamental belief in the strength and power of women that was drawn from everyday civil, domestic, and religious experience."
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Southapmton, Virginia. Bloody slave rebellion as a result of Nat Turner’s religious vision to kill every white resident between his owner’s plantation and the next town of Jerusalem. Turner was a respected slave who was literate and skilled in carpentry. He gathered five co-conspirators who participated in the rebellion, and together they killed 55 whites. Resulting from the rebellion were many deaths of blacks who did not participate, but also was a great
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1832 Martin Delany moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Though he worked as an apprentice to a local white doctor, he became involved in black self-help organizations, a vigilance committee for the protection of fugitive slaves, and efforts to restore suffrage to black Pennsylvanians.
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In December 1833, Charlotte Forten and her daughters helped establish the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, the country's first biracial organization of women's abolitionists
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Madison Washington leads slave revolt on ship Creole.” Most of the crew were killed or overpowered. The ship's mate was told to steer the brig, and they landed at Nassau, where the British government refused to return the blacks to the United States and they were freed. Attracted international attention and inspired “The Heroic Slave” by Frederick Douglass.
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Delany founded the Mystery, a short-lived abolitionist newspaper in which he attacked northern racial prejudice.
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• 1845- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself. A strong, influential example of antebellum slave narrative that included the psychology of slavery. Relates to new psychology created when works such as "Theresa" and "Blake" were published serially.
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During the late 1840s, Delany was co-editor of Frederick Douglass’s North Star and traveled as an abolitionist lecturer. His call for black economic self-determination and his critique of the black community’s religiosity as an obstacle to achieving that end placed him among the most radical of abolitionists.
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Made it so that even free blacks in north subject to laws of capture, sale and transfer. Also plays a role in inspiring “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
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Assumed to be one of the first works of fiction by African American. First version appeared twice in 1853 (different than 1852 in Cole), in Frederick Douglass' Paper and as part of the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society's Autographs for Freedom. Story based on Madison Washington who led the Creole slave revolt.
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An example of antebellum slave narrative reflecting the "movement south 'down the river”'is movement toward bondage" (Cole). Though widely affective, the novel differs in style and purpose from "Theresa" and "Blake"
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Delany published his argument for emigration as a means by which black Americans could break free of the psychological and physical domination of whites. Was well received by prominent black leaders but attacked by the white abolitionist press.
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The first known full-length African American nove;. Based on persistent rumors about Thomas Jefferson's relations with a slave mistress, Clotel. Novel bears resemblance to abolitionist novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
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Designed to allow slavery in the territories (pursued as part of Manifest Destiny) west of Missouri, allowing states to choose whether they would be free or slave states. Overturned Missouri Compromise. Caused new Kansas territory to be called Bleeding Kansas for the small-scale civil war that erupted as a result.
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• 1857- Pres James Buchanan inaugurated. Sympathizer with the South, he heavily influenced the crises leading to Civil War.
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Scott sues former owner’s widow, claiming he is free because his owner took him to free states and territories under the Missouri Compromise. Scott lost as the courts ruled (in a pro-slavery opinion) the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.
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Delany explored the Niger Valley in West Africa, where he hoped to establish a settlement to grow cotton with free labor in direct competition with the slave South. Great Britain was a supporter, but it never materialized. Also published emigration, anti-slavery conventions, contemporary fiction, and astronomy and writes "Blake"
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"Blake: Or, the Huts of America” Martin R. Delany, 26 chapters serialized in Anglo-African Magazine (inaugural issue) 1859. Protagonist Henry Blake closely resembles Delany himself.
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• October 16, 1859- John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, October 16 stirs passions throughout the country. Brown, along with a group of several whites and blacks, seizes Harper's Ferry and its federal arsenal as a signal for a general slave insurrection that will establish a new state as a refuge for blacks. Frederick Douglas refused to join.
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Supported by North, free states.
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Attack on Fort Sumter, Civil War begins
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“Blake” published in its entirety in Weekly Anglo-African Nov 1861-May 1862
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Delany interviews with President Abraham Lincoln where Lincoln approves of Delaney’s plan to recruit black troops. Makes Delany a major, the first black field officer.
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Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, ends Civil War.
