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Eli Whitny

Olaudah Equiano- (1745-1797) also known as Gustavus Vassa, was one of the most prominent people of African heritage involved in the British debate for the abolition of the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through the Slave Trade Act of 1807. Despite his enslavement as a young man, he purchased his freedom in 1765 and worked as a seaman, merchant, and explorer in South America, the Caribbean, the Arctic, the American colonies, and the United Kingdom. Equiano lived with six brothers and a sister, and was part of a large family. At the age of ten and a half, Equiano and his sister were kidnapped by fellow Africans and sold to slave owners. Equiano was sold to white slave traders and taken to the New World, specifically Barbados. Equiano's literacy and seamanship skills made him too valuable for plantation labor.

Anthony Johnson- was an early black resident of the Virginia Colony. He was one of the original 20 African laborers brought to Jamestown in 1619 as an indentured servant. He is referred to as "Antonio a Negro". In the 1640s, he purchased his freedom from indentured servitude for both himself and his wife and by 1651 he was prosperous enough to import five "servants" of his own, for which he was granted 250 acres. In 1664, worried for his family and facing tighter prejudice against free blacks, Johnson sold his land and moved his family to Maryland, where he rented new land. In 1669 he died.

Gabriel Prosser- was a skilled and literate enslaved blacksmith who planned and led a large a slave rebellion in the Richmond area in the summer of 1800. On August 30, 1800, Gabriel hoped to lead the slaves into Richmond, but torrential rains postponed the rebellion. The slaves' masters had suspicion of the uprising. Before it could be carried out, two slaves told their master Mosby Sheppard about the plans. Gabriel, his two brothers, and 24 of their followers...