| 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 |
| 1806 | | Black Baptists build a meeting house on Beacon Hill in Boston | The "African Meeting House," now on Boston's Black Heritage Trail, is considered the oldest surviving Black church building in America. | abolition |
| 1812 | | U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides") fights British. | | maritime |
| 1813 | | William Nell ships out of Charleston, S.C. as a steward | | maritime, abolition |
| 1815 | | The Affecting Narrative of Louisa Baker | This was the first in a series of stories eventually gathered as "The Female Marine." | maritime |
| 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 |
| 1830 | | Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem raises outcry over supposed abandonment of "Old Ironsides." | | maritime |
| 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 |
| 1832 | | Garrison begins "The Liberator" | | 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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| 1834 | | Whittier publishes "The Slave Ship" | | slavery, abolition, maritime |
| 1835 | | Seaman's Aid Society establishes a "Mariner's Home" in Boston | | maritime |
| 1836 | | Providence ships lists show 30% African American seamen. | | maritime |
| 1837 | | Vermont abolitionists begin sheltering escaped slaves | See an interesting collection of documents and a debate over Vermont's role in the "Underground Railroad" at The Vermont Historical Society | |
| 1837 | | Sarah Grimke, "Letters on the Equality of the Sexes" | With her sister, Angelina, Grimke traveled throughout New England, meeting with female wage workers as well as abolitionists. | women's work |
| 1837 | | Angeline and Sarah Grimke tour New England | | abolition, women |
| 1839 | | Amistad trial in New Haven | | slavery abolition maritime |
| 1841 | | Longfellow, "The Wreck of the Hesperus," in Ballads and Other Poems | | 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 |
| 1850 | | Fugitive Slave Act | | slavery |
| 1850 | | 10,000 men employed in whaling on shore or at sea | | maritime |
| 1851 | | Herman Melville, "Moby Dick" | | maritime |
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| 1851 | | Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" | | slavery, abolition |
| 1854 | | Lucy Larcom, "Hannah Binding Shoes" | | women's work, maritime |
| 1854 | | Anthony Burns arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act | | slavery |
| 1857 | | John Greenleaf Whittier, "Skipper Ireson's Ride," | | maritime |
| 1857 | | Dred Scott Decision | | slavery, abolition |
| 1858 | | Black seamen parade in Boston and Providence to celebrate West Indian independence. | | maritime |
| 1859 | | Gloucester fleets net almost 30 million pounds of fish. | Fewer than 3 out of 10 fishermen own their own craft. | maritime |
| 1859 | | Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Minister's Wooing | Stowe's hero was a Newport, Rhode Island minister named Samuel Hopkins. | Stowe, abolition, slavery |
| 1859 | | Rockport women attack rumsellers. | | maritime |
| 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 | | |
| 1871 | | New England whaling ships crushed in ice of coast of Alaska | | maritime |
| 1878 | | Old Ironsides takes last Atlantic voyage. | After 1897 it is on exhibit in Boston. | maritime |
| 1880 | | New England fisheries decline | | economy, maritime |
| 1881 | | Nantucket's Coffin House restored | | maritime, museum, summer |
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| 1881 | | Winslow Homer seeks the "old ways" in an English fishing village. | | maritime |
| 1885 | | After moving to Prout's Neck, Maine, Winslow Homer turned to the drama of seafaring. | | maritime |
| 1903 | | New Bedford Whaling Museum founded | | maritime |
| 1930 | | Mystic Seaport maritime museum begins operation | | |
| 1930 | | Nantucket Whaling Museum opened | | maritime |
