Black History Timeline: 1700-1794

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Introduction

This Black History Timeline explores the pivotal events and figures that shaped Black history during the 18th century. We highlight significant occasions and figures that helped define the trajectory of Black history during this critical time.

Context

The 18th century witnessed the growth of the transatlantic slave trade and the expansion of slavery in the Americas. Despite facing immense oppression, African Americans demonstrated resilience and resistance, laying the groundwork for future struggles for freedom and equality.

This timeline presents a comprehensive view of the key events that shaped Black history during this period. Each entry provides a clear understanding of what happened, its significance, and additional details to enhance comprehension.

1700 Pennsylvania legalizes slavery.

• Event: Pennsylvania Legalizes Slavery
• Significance: Formally establishes slavery within the colony’s legal framework.
• Additional Details: Blacks, free or enslaved, are tried in special courts without jury benefits. This also aimed to place high duties on the importation of slaves.

1702 New York passes “An Act for Regulating Slaves.”

• Event: New York Passes “An Act for Regulating Slaves”
• Significance: Restricts the rights and freedoms of enslaved people.
• Additional Details: Prohibits meetings of more than three slaves, slave trading, and slave testimony in court.

1703 Connecticut assigns whipping to slaves who disturb the peace or assault whites.

• Event: Connecticut Assigns Whipping as Punishment
• Significance: Legalizes violent punishment to control the enslaved population.
• Additional Details: Reflects the harsh and brutal realities of slavery in colonial America.

1703 Rhode Island makes it illegal for blacks and Indians to walk at night without passes.

• Event: Rhode Island Restricts Movement
• Significance: Imposes curfews to control and monitor the movement of people of color.
• Additional Details: This law aimed to prevent unauthorized gatherings and potential resistance.

1705 Virginia Slave Codes are enacted.

• Event: Virginia Slave Codes
• Significance: Define slaves as real estate and deny them basic human rights.
• Additional Details: This legislation solidified the institution of slavery in Virginia.

1712 New York Slave Revolt occurs.

• Event: New York Slave Revolt
• Significance: Highlights the resistance of enslaved people against their bondage.
• Additional Details: Resulted in the execution of 21 slaves and further restrictions on the enslaved population.

1739 Stono Rebellion in South Carolina.

• Event: Stono Rebellion
• Significance: Largest slave uprising in the British mainland colonies.
• Additional Details: Demonstrated the courage and determination of enslaved people to fight for their freedom.

1740 South Carolina passes the Negro Act.

• Event: South Carolina Negro Act
• Significance: Further restricts the rights and freedoms of enslaved people.
• Additional Details: Prohibits slaves from assembling, learning to read, or moving abroad.

1746 Lucy Terry Prince writes “Bars Fight.”

• Event: Lucy Terry Prince Composes “Bars Fight”
• Significance: Becomes the earliest known black American poet.
• Additional Details: The poem recounts an Indian attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts.

1753 Benjamin Banneker designs and builds the first clock in the British American colonies.

• Event: Benjamin Banneker’s Clock
• Significance: Showcases the intellectual and scientific abilities of African Americans.
• Additional Details: Banneker also created a series of almanacs and corresponded with Thomas Jefferson.

1758 The first Black Baptist Church is founded in America on William Byrd III’s plantation.

• Event: First Black Baptist Church Founded
• Significance: Provided a space for African Americans to worship freely.
• Additional Details: Churches became central to the African American community.

1760 Jupiter Hammon has a poem printed.

• Event: Jupiter Hammon Published
• Significance: Becomes the first published African-American poet.
• Additional Details: Hammon’s work addressed religious and moral themes.

1770 Crispus Attucks becomes the first casualty of the American Revolution.

• Event: Crispus Attucks’ Death
• Significance: Marks the involvement of African Americans in the fight for American independence.
• Additional Details: Attucks was killed during the Boston Massacre.

1773 Phillis Wheatley’s “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” is published.

• Event: Phillis Wheatley’s Publication
• Significance: Makes her the first African American to publish a book of poetry.
• Additional Details: Wheatley’s work gained international recognition and challenged racial stereotypes.

1774 First black Baptist congregations are organized in the South.

• Event: Black Baptist Churches Organized
• Significance: Established independent religious institutions within the African American community.
• Additional Details: Silver Bluff Baptist Church in South Carolina and First African Baptist Church near Petersburg, Virginia.

1775 The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage is formed.

• Event: Abolition Society Formed
• Significance: Represents early efforts to advocate for the abolition of slavery.
• Additional Details: Later became the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, with Benjamin Franklin as president.

1776-1783 American Revolution.

• Event: American Revolution
• Significance: Provided opportunities for enslaved people to seek freedom by joining the British or fighting for the colonists.
• Additional Details: Thousands of enslaved blacks escaped to British lines, promised freedom for fighting. Many free blacks in the North fought for the colonists.

1777 Vermont Republic abolishes slavery.

• Event: Vermont Abolishes Slavery
• Significance: Becomes the first future state to abolish slavery.
• Additional Details: Although there were few slaves in Vermont at the time.

1780 Pennsylvania becomes the first U.S. state to abolish slavery.

• Event: Pennsylvania Abolishes Slavery
• Significance: Sets a precedent for other states to follow.
• Additional Details: Although gradual abolition laws meant the process took many years.

1781 Elizabeth Freeman successfully sues for her freedom in Massachusetts.

• Event: Elizabeth Freeman’s Lawsuit
• Significance: Challenges the legality of slavery under the state constitution.
• Additional Details: Sets a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.

1783 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirms that the state constitution had abolished slavery.

• Event: Massachusetts Abolishes Slavery
• Significance: Legally ends slavery in the state.
• Additional Details: Ruling stated that slavery was incompatible with the state constitution.

1787 U.S. Constitution is drafted.

• Event: U.S. Constitution
• Significance: Includes the Three-Fifths Compromise and allows the slave trade to continue until 1808.
• Additional Details: These provisions protected the interests of slaveholders and perpetuated the institution of slavery.

1787 Northwest Ordinance bans slavery expansion in U.S. territories north of the Ohio River.

• Event: Northwest Ordinance
• Significance: Limits the expansion of slavery into new territories.
• Additional Details: Though it did not abolish slavery where it already existed.

1793 Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin.

• Event: Cotton Gin Invented
• Significance: Dramatically increases the demand for slave labor in the South.
• Additional Details: Made cotton production more profitable, leading to the expansion of slavery.

1793 A federal fugitive slave law was enacted.

• Event: Federal Fugitive Slave Law
• Significance: Provided for the return slaves who had escaped and crossed state lines.
• Additional Details: Further entrenched the institution of slavery.

1794 Richard Allen founds the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

• Event: AME Church Founded
• Significance: The first independent black denomination in the United States.
• Additional Details: Provided a space for African Americans to worship freely and exercise leadership.

The only poem that has survived, Bars Fight, is a true story about the killing of two white families by Native Americans. – Lucy Terry Prince

1702 New York passes An Act for Regulating Slaves. Among the prohibitions of this act are meetings of more than three slaves, trading by slaves, and testimony by slaves in court.

1703 Connecticut assigns whipping to slaves who disturb the peace or assault whites.

1703 Rhode Island makes it illegal for blacks and Indians to walk at night without passes.

1746 Lucy Terry, Prince, an enslaved person in 1746, becomes the earliest known black American poet when she writes about the last American Indian attack on her village of Deerfield, Massachusetts. Her poem, Bar’s Fight, is not published until 1855.

1753 Benjamin Banneker designed and built the first clock in the British American colonies. He also created a series of almanacs. He corresponded with Thomas Jefferson and wrote that “blacks were intellectually equal to whites.” Banneker worked with Pierre L’Enfant to survey and design a street and urban plan for Washington, D.C.

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1760 Jupiter Hammon has a poem printed, becoming the first published African-American poet.

 1773 Phillis Wheatley’s book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral is published, making her the first African American to do so.

1787 Slavery is made illegal in the Northwest Territory. The U.S. Constitution states that Congress may not ban the slave trade until 1808.

1774  The first black Baptist congregations are organized in the South: Silver Bluff Baptist Church in South Carolina and First African Baptist Church near Petersburg, Virginia.

Silver Bluff Baptist Church

1775   The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage holds four meetings. It was re-formed in 1784 as the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and Benjamin Franklin would later be its president.

Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, 1780

 1776–1783 American Revolution

Thousands of enslaved blacks in the South escaped to British lines, as they were promised freedom to fight with the British. In South Carolina, 25,000 enslaved blacks. One-quarter of those held escaped to the British or left their plantations. After the war, many blacks were evacuated with the British for England; more than 3,000 Black Loyalists were transported with other Loyalists to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where they were granted land. The others went to Jamaica and the West Indies. Around 8–10,000 were evacuated from the colonies in these years as free people; about 50 percent of those slaves defected to the British, and about 80 percent of those who survived. Many free blacks in the North fought with the colonists for the rebellion.

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 1777  July 8 The Vermont Republic abolishes slavery. They were the first future state to do so. No slaves were held in Vermont.

 1780 Pennsylvania becomes the first U.S. state to abolish slavery.

1781  A woman by the name of Elizabeth Freeman tried suing for her freedom in the state of Massachusetts. In the court case Brom & Bett v. Ashley, under the state constitution of 1780, she becomes the first slave in the state to win her freedom.

Writ of Replevin ordering Ashley to release Brett and Brom

Verdict in Brom and Bett v. Ashley

1783  Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed that the Massachusetts state constitution had abolished slavery. It ruled that “granting rights and privileges [was] wholly incompatible and repugnant to” slavery in an appeal case arising from the escape of former slave Quock Walker. When the British left New York and Charleston in 1783, they took the last 5500 Loyalists to the Caribbean and some 15,000 slaves.

 1787   Slavery is made illegal in the Northwest Territory. The U.S. Constitution states that Congress may not ban the slave trade until 1808.

1787 The Northwest Ordinance bans the expansion of slavery into U.S. territories north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River.

 1788  the U.S. Constitution is ratified, and when it came to congressional representation and tax apportionment, they put in a fugitive slave law declaring that slaves were three-fifths human. This mandate further reinforces political power away from slaves.

 1790–1810 Manumission of slaves

Following the Revolution, numerous slaveholders in the Upper South free their slaves; the percentage of free blacks rises from less than one to 10 percent. By 1810, 75 percent of all blacks in Delaware are free, and 7.2 percent of blacks in Virginia are free.

 1793, Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin. This affected slavery.

1793 A federal fugitive slave law was enacted, providing for the return slaves who had escaped and crossed state lines.

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1794  Eli Whitney is granted a patent on the cotton gin. This enables the cultivation and processing of short-staple cotton to be profitable in the uplands and interior areas of the Deep South; as this cotton can be cultivated in a wide area, the change dramatically increases the need for enslaved labor and leads to the development of King Cotton as the chief commodity crop.

1794  the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, with Absalom Jones, and the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, with Richard Allen, the latter the first church of what would become 1816 the first independent black denomination in the United States.

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Work Cited

Black History & Civil Rights Movement Timeline. https://www.infoplease.com/history/black-history/timeline-key-moments-in-black-history

Potter, Joan (2002). African American Firsts. Kensington. pp. 295–296.

Slavery and the Making of America. Timeline | PBS. https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/slavery/timeline/1694.html

Timeline of African-American history – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_African-American_history

Talk:Timeline of African-American history/Archive 1 …. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Timeline_of_African-American_history/Archive_1

The American Revolution and Slavery”, Digital History. Retrieved March 5, 2008.

Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War? – Democratic …. https://www.democraticunderground.com/10021915738

18th Century Civil Rights timeline | Timetoast timelines. https://media.timetoast.com/timelines/18th-century-civil-rights