Slavery Officially Abolished in Texas on Juneteenth - 1865 - On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3, announcing that all enslaved people in Texas were free. This moment came more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed by President Lincoln, but due to the Civil War and Texas’s remote location, enforcement had been delayed.This day became known as Juneteenth—a blend of “June” and “nineteenth”—and it marks the final enforcement of emancipation in the last Confederate state where slavery had persisted. Though slavery wasn’t formally abolished nationwide until the 13th Amendment was ratified in December 1865, Juneteenth has come to symbolize the end of slavery in the United States.Celebrated since 1866, Juneteenth has grown from local observances to a federal holiday, officially recognized in 2021. It’s a powerful reminder of delayed justice—and enduring hope.

New York Anti-Slavery Society founded - 1833 - At that time, more and more white New Yorkers were in favor of ending slavery, but very few were for equal rights. The Tappans were different. They demanded “universal liberty.” Whites, such as the Tappans, who spoke out for equality were hated and often targeted. During the riots of 1834, pro-slavery mobs attacked the Tappans repeatedly. First the Chatham Chapel, which the brothers rented for abolitionist meetings, was attacked. The next day Lewis`s home was attacked; his belongings were piled in the street and burned. Then Arthur`s store was attacked—twice. A year later a $100,000 reward was offered to anyone who delivered the dead bodies of the Tappans to any slave state. The only protection Lewis relied on was the Bible in his breast pocket. Both brothers drew on their faith for strength and continued their abolitionist work. Working with African Americans such as Frederick Douglass, Samuel Cornish, and Henry Highland Garnet, the brothers accomplished many things. They helped found the New York Anti-Slavery Society and were actively part of the Underground Railroad. Lewis organized the defense for the Africans of the slave ship Amistad. The brothers also gave money to integrated colleges, abolitionist newspapers, and many other anti-slavery organizations. Arthur Tappan died in 1865, the year that the 13th Amendment outlawed slavery. Lewis Tappan died 8 years later.The Anti-Slavery Society organised meetings, arranged the signing of petitions, printed and distributed anti-slavery propaganda and employed people to go on lecture tours of the United States. By 1840 the society had 250,000 members, published more than twenty journals and 2,000 local chapters.

New York Slave Revolt of 1712 - 1712 - An uprising in New York City, in the Province of New York, of 23 enslaved Africans. They killed nine whites and injured another six before they were stopped. More than three times that number of black people, 70, were arrested and jailed. Of these, 27 were put on trial, and 21 convicted and executed.By the early 18th century, New York City had one of the largest enslaved populations of any of the settlements in the Thirteen Colonies. After the seizure of New Netherland in 1667 and it's incorporation into the Province of New York, the rights of the Free Negro social group were gradually eroded. On December 13, 1711, the New York City Common Council established the city's first slave market near Wall Street for the sale and rental of enslaved Africans and Native Americans.By the early 1700s, about 20 percent of the population were enslaved black people. A group of more than twenty black slaves gathered on the night of April 6, 1712, and set fire to a building on Maiden Lane near Broadway. While the white colonists tried to put out the fire, the enslaved blacks, armed with guns, hatchets, and swords, attacked the whites then ran off. Almost immediately all runaway slaves were captured and returned to their owners.Colonial forces arrested seventy blacks and jailed them. Six are reported to have committed suicide. Twenty-seven were put on trial, 21 of whom were convicted and sentenced to death, including one woman with child.[7] Twenty were burned to death and one was executed on a breaking wheel. After the revolt, the city and colony passed more restrictive laws governing black and Indian slaves. The colony required slave owners who wanted to free their slaves to pay a tax of £200 per person, then an amount much higher than the cost of a slave.

Slave Market on Wall Street - 1711 - The site of a slave market where enslaved Africans and Indians were sold, bought or rented.In 1711, city officials sanctioned the human marketplace at Wall and Pearl Sts., and even collected a sales tax when slaves were sold and bought. The market was closed in 1762, but slaves were not freed in New York until 1841.By 1703, 42% of New York households owned slaves, more than Philadelphia and Boston combined. In terms of cities, only Charleston, South Carolina had more slaves at the time.A Plaque temporarily on Wall St. and Water St. dedicated in 2015 by Mayor Bill de Blasio, acknowledging the sacrifice and contribution of these forced laborers. "Under consecutive Dutch, British and American rule, slave labor was used in New York City homes and industries, including farming and public works," read part of a statement issued when the city placed the plaque at the slave market site.

The Pennsylvania Slave Trade Marker - 2015 - Inscription: African people, first enslaved by the Dutch and Swedes, survived the brutal voyage from Africa to the Caribbean Islands and the Americans, debarking on the Delaware River waterfront as early as 1639. William Penn, other Quakers and Philadelphia merchants purchased and enslaved Africans. As the institution of slavery increased, these courageous people preserved and performed integral roles in building Pennsylvania and the nation.

The Slave Ship Amistad - 1839 - By 1839, the international slave trade was illegal in most countries while the “peculiar institution” of slavery, was not. In April of that year, five or six hundred Africans were illegally purchased by a Portuguese slave trader and shipped to Havana, aboard the slave ship Teçora.Fifty-three members of the Mende people of West Africa, were sold to Joseph Ruiz and Pedro Montez, who planned to use them on their Cuban sugar plantation. The Mendians were given Spanish names and designated “black ladinos,” fraudulently documenting the 53 to have always lived as slaves, in Cuba. In June, Ruiz and Montez placed the Africans on board the schooner la Amistad, (“Friendship”), and set sail down the Cuban coast to Puerto del Principe.

An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery passed - 1799 - New York laws of 1799, an act for the gradual abolition of slavery, specifying that children born to a slave mother after July 4, 1799 were declared legally free--but not until male children had turned 28, and females 25.Slaves born before that date remained in servitude, although they were redefined as indentured servants.

Liss, Enslaved Freedom Seeker, Liss was born into slavery on Long Island, New York around the year 1763 and lived in lower Manhattan from 1779 - 1785. She was enslaved by two brothers, Samuel Townsend, of Oyster Bay, New York, and Dr. James Townsend, of Jericho, New York. During the American Revolution, a British commander, Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe billeted in the household of Samuel Townsend where Liss was enslaved. Simcoe believed slavery was morally wrong.