Slavery was marked by unimaginable cruelty, but it also inspired extraordinary acts of courage, resistance, and perseverance. These true stories reveal both the harsh realities of the institution and the remarkable people who fought against it, survived it, or changed history because of it.
Freedom Suit Breaks Slavery
1. In 1780, Elizabeth Freeman, who was enslaved, effectively brought slavery in Massachusetts to an end by suing for her liberty, arguing that the new state constitution said all men are born free and equal.
2. After being asked to return and work for his former owner, ex slave Jordan Anderson answered with a blunt letter requesting 52 years of unpaid wages as evidence of good faith. The letter has been described as a rare documented example of “slave humor” from that time.
3. Mary Bowser, a freed slave with a Quaker education and an exceptional memory, pretended to be a dull witted slave so she could spy for the Union in Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ household for much of the Civil War.
4. Bill Richmond was a black slave who fought with the British in the Revolutionary War. He later relocated to England, where he became one of the world’s most renowned bare knuckle boxers. A well spoken and respected man, he married a white woman and was present at George IV’s coronation.
5. An African slave named Onesimus showed Boston colonists how to inoculate themselves against smallpox. The method had been widely used in China and Africa for centuries.
6. In 1851, Jerry, a runaway enslaved man, was arrested in Syracuse, New York during the anti-slavery Liberty Party convention. Hundreds of abolitionists stormed the city jail and set Jerry free, and he was later smuggled to Canada. Nine people involved in the rescue also fled to avoid being prosecuted.
7. Ebbie Tolbert was born in 1807 and spent more than 50 years enslaved. She obtained freedom at 56 and lived until age 113, when she walked to the St Louis polling place and registered to vote.
8. Samuel McCulloch, a freed slave, was the first Texian soldier to be wounded in the Texas Revolution in 1835. A later law barred freed slaves from living in the Republic of Texas, but it specifically exempted McCulloch, his family, and his descendants in recognition of his service.
9. Maria Lewis was an emancipated 17-year-old slave who pretended to be a white man and served in a Union cavalry unit for more than two years.
10. Of the 12.5 million slaves who crossed the Atlantic, only 388,000 were sold in the US. The remaining 10.7 million were taken to Mexico and South America.
New Hampshire Fugitive Witness
11. Oney Judge, an enslaved person who escaped from George Washington, spent her life as a fugitive in New Hampshire and gave historians the most detailed description of slavery at Mount Vernon.
12. William “Billy” Lee was George Washington’s slave and personal valet. He served alongside Washington throughout the American Revolutionary War and was the only one of Washington’s slaves freed immediately after Washington died.
13. Sara Forbes Bonetta, a West African girl, was orphaned and sold into slavery, then, in an extraordinary turn of events, was freed from enslavement and became a goddaughter of Queen Victoria.
14. Eunus was a slave magician who laughed onstage while saying he intended to overthrow Roman rule and become king of Sicily. He later headed a massive slave revolt and kept his promise to save the lives of those who tipped him.
15. Wheeling Gaunt was enslaved and purchased freedom for himself and his family in 1845 before relocating to Yellow Springs, Ohio. When he died, he left much of his land and estate to the village on the condition that each widow receive flour every year, and this still continues today.
16. In 1841, a 12-year-old enslaved boy called Edmond Albius created the method for commercially pollinating vanilla orchids. Without this method, vanilla probably would not be nearly as famous as it is now.
17. Roman slaves wore iron collars with messages, much like a modern dog collar. One example says, “I have run away; hold me. When you shall have returned me to my master, Zoninus, you will receive a solidus.”
18. A former slave named James Armistead served as a double agent during the American Revolution. He could move freely between American and British camps and disrupted Benedict Arnold’s plan to attack Yorktown. This caused the British to surrender.
19. Thomas Peters was a former slave who fought for the British in the American Revolutionary War and is one of the founding fathers of Sierra Leone.
20. Yasuke was a 16th century African who went to Japan as a slave. He created such a stir that a powerful warlord wanted to meet him. The warlord believed his black skin was paint and ordered it washed off. They later became friends, and Yasuke was eventually given the honored rank of Samurai.
From Captive To Guide
21. Before the Mayflower, Squanto was kidnapped, sold into slavery in Spain, and escaped back to North America, only to find his entire tribe wiped out from disease. The site he later helped the Pilgrams settle at was the summer village of his tribe, Plymoth Rock.
22. Abram Gannibal was a black African-born Russian nobleman of the 18th century. Sold into slavery, he was eventually freed by Peter the Great and adopted into the Emperor’s household as his godson. His great-great-grandson is the celebrated author and poet Alexander Pushkin.
23. Due to the use of slave labor, more people died producing the German V2 rockets than by the rockets themselves.
24. In 1862, Robert Smalls, a slave freed himself, his crew and their families by overtaking Confederate ship, CSS Planter. He then sailed it north. The ship contained a codebook letting them pass CSA checkpoints. He became the new captain of the ship and convinced Lincoln to admit African Americans to the Army.
25. Quilombo Dos Palmares was a community of fugitive slaves in Brazil that resisted Portuguese efforts to destroy it for almost a century. One estimate places the population of Palmares in the 1690s at around 20,000 inhabitants.
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