Sources

Africans aboard the Spanish slave ship, Amistad, commit mutiny. When the ship lands off the coast of Long Island, the slaves plea for freedom in court.

Philadelphia is plagued with anti-black and anti-abolitionist violence, particularly from Philadelphia white workers who feared that they have to compete with freed slaves for jobs. Second meeting of the Antislavery Convention of American Women, gathered in Philadelphia at the newly built Pennsylvania Hall, is attacked by a mob. The mob burns down the hall, as well as sets a shelter for black orphans on fire and damages a black church.

New York City hosts the first National Anti-Slavery Society Convention.

Texas wins independence from Mexico and legalizes slavery. Free blacks and mulattos are forbidden from entering the state.

In the Second Seminole War, blacks again fight alongside Native Americans in opposition to U.S. forces.

Louisiana removes restraints on the interstate slave trade.

Britain abolishes slavery in all of its colonies.

Alabama removes restraints on interstate slave trade.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hosts the 1st annual Convention of People of Color.

The slave population in the U.S. numbers more than two million, making the ratio of free to enslaved Americans approximately 5.5:1.

In Boston, Massachusetts, David Walker publishes his widely read vociferous condemnation of slavery, An appeal to the colored citizens of the world, and Walker’s Appeal in Four Articles. Walker’s Appeal, arguably the most radical of all anti-slavery documents, causes a great stir with its call for slaves to revolt against their masters and its protest against colonization.