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To see all events in all categories, click the "Entire Timeline" link at the top of the page. You can use the form to the left to search for sets of events by entering specific terms or to zoom in on a particular time period. View historical, literary, or commemorative events in New England's past by using the links in the legend below.
Legend: Commemorative Literary Historical

Years Image Event Description Keywords
1770   Phillis Wheatley, "Elegy for George Whitefield" The British evangelist died at Newburyport, Mass. on September 30, 1770. slavery, religion
1773   Massachusetts slaves begin petitioning for freedom   slavery, abolition
1773   Phillis Wheatley, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral"  
Additional Information
slavery
1776   Samuel Hopkins, A Dialogue Concerning the Slavery of the Africans An abolitionist argument ddressed to the continental congress. abolition, Stowe
1829   David Walker, An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World Published in Boston by a southern black, Walker's "Appeal" helped to spark the abolitionist movement. abolition, slavery
1831   Maria Stewart begins public speeches condemning slavery. Stewart, a free black, may have been the first women in the U.S. to give public speeches against slavery. abolition
1833   Lydia Maria Child, "An Appeal for that Class of Americans Called Africans" Child, who had previously published fiction and a cookbook, The American Frugal housewife, became a prominent antislavery writer and activist. antislavery, abolition
1833   John Greenleaf Whittier joins the abolitionist cause. Whittier was a close friend of William Lloyd Garrison even before joining the fight against slavery. slavery, Whittier, abolition
1834   Shoebinders of Lynn, Massachusetts form a society "for the protection and promotion of Female Industry" Its leaders helped to form the Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1837. women's work
1834   Whittier publishes "The Slave Ship"   slavery, abolition, maritime
1839   Amistad trial in New Haven   slavery abolition maritime
1841   Amistad case argued before the Supreme Court   John Quincy Adams slavery
1842   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poems on Slavery   slavery, abolition
1842   With the encouragement of his friend Charles Sumner, Longfellow publishes "Poems on Slavery    
1845   Frederick Douglas publishes his narrative. He became a powerful voice in both the anti-slavery and women's rights movements. slavery, abolition
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1850   Fugitive Slave Act   slavery
1851   Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin"   slavery, abolition
1854   Anthony Burns arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act   slavery
1857   Dred Scott Decision   slavery, abolition
1859   Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Minister's Wooing Stowe's hero was a Newport, Rhode Island minister named Samuel Hopkins. Stowe, abolition, slavery
1863   Emancipation Proclamation frees slaves in rebellious states In a response to an editorial in the New york Tribune, Lincoln had earlier insisted that he would free the slaves only to save the Union. Harriet Beecher Stowe responded in another publication that he should save the Union only to free the slaves. slavery
1865   13th Amendment outlaws slavery    

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