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1619 |
A Dutch frigate sells "twenty and odd negroes" to authorities at Jamestown, Virginia. According to surviving documents, they are the first Africans to arrive in North America, and are classified as indentured servants, not slaves. As with the many English and Europeans who come involuntarily, as indentured servants or redemptioners, it is the Africans' labor—not their person—that is sold.
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1640
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1649 |
Anthony Johnson (brought to Virginia in 1621) and his family are freed and he is awarded land. Johnson acquires additional land and farms tobacco. Court records show he is one of the first black slaveholders in the colonies. |
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1642
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1643 |
Virginia law taxes black female servants at the same rate as black and white male servants. White female servants remain untaxed. |
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1644 |
New Amsterdam authorities grant half-freedom and land to eleven black servants of the Dutch West India Company. |
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1665 |
Maryland suppresses independent economic activity by slaves in Calvert v. Wynne et al, in which the court declares that “noe person. . . shall trade, barter, commerce, or game, with slaves without the owner's permission.”
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1670 |
A free African in Massachussets goes into business making chairs. |
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1686 |
African Americans in the Carolinas are prohibited from engaging in any trade or business. |
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1736 |
In Providence, Rhode Island, Emanuel Manna and his wife Mary Baroon, both of whom purchased their freedom, open a catering establishment and an oyster and alehouse. |
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1740 |
As part of the effort to curb the business activities of slaves, South Carolina enacts a slave code that states, “no slave or slaves shall be permitted to rent or hire any house, room, store or plantations, on his or her own account.”
Learn more
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1760
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1769 |
Gouldtown, a rural community of mixed-race blacks, is founded in New Jersey. It is the first recorded community of its kind.
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1764 |
The former slave Abijah Prince is one of the founders of the town of Sunderland, Vermont; at the time he owns 100 acres in Guilford. |
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1765 |
Fraunces Tavern is opened by Samuel “Black Sam” Fraunces; it is the oldest standing building in New York City .
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1766 |
The New England black craftsman Cyrus purchases his freedom through his success as a manufacturer of wooden trays. |
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1772 |
Jean Baptiste Point De Sable, the son of a Haitian slave and a Frenchman, builds a trading post on the site of present-day Chicago. Some sources put the date at 1779.
Learn more
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1775 |
In Virginia the slave Christopher McPherson manages the operations of his owner's businesses; he manages ironworks, mills, coal mines, and shipping concerns. |
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1776 |
In Pennsylvania, the illiterate slave Thomas establishes a successful cooper business. |
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1778 |
The black entrepreneur Paul Cuffe and his brother John refuse to pay taxes, claiming taxation without representation. Over seven hundred blacks fight at Battle of Monmouth. Town meetings in Massachusetts reject a proposed state constitution in part because it does not abolish slavery.
Learn more
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1780 |
The first mutual aid society for African Americans is established in Rhode Island by Newport Gardner and other blacks. His African Union Society encourages thrift, makes loans to debt-ridden members, and provides insurance benefits to widows and children and apprenticeships for youths.
Learn more
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1781 |
A successful tannery with markets in New Hampshire and Massachussets is established by Amos Fortune. He provides apprenticeships for both black and white youths. |
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1783 |
December
4George Washington formally bids farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern. The owner, Samuel “Black Sam” Fraunces is a well-off man who supplied American revolutionary forces with food and money. |
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1784 |
Paul Cuffe, a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, sets sail as the first African American to captain his own ship.
Learn more
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1787 |
After being denied admission to the Boston Freemasons, Prince Hall, a businessman and Revolutionary War veteran, petitions the Grand Lodge of England and obtains a charter to create the first African American Masonic Lodge in the United States.
Learn more
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1787 |
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones organize the Philadelphia Free African Society, it is the first formally organized African American mutual aid society, and is both an abolitionist and religious organization.
Learn more
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1790 |
Free blacks in Charleston, South Carolina, organize the Brown Fellowship Society, the oldest funeral society in the city. The society's motto “charity and benevolence” does not apply to African Americans with especially dark skin or low social status.
Learn more
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1791 |
The black mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker, publishes his first almanac. He sends a copy to Thomas Jefferson as evidence of the intellectual capacity of Africans. He is also appointed to help survey the land for the nation's capital in what will become Washington, D.C.
Learn more
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1793 |
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, who is the first ordained African American priest in the Episcopal Church, create a nonprofit undertaking business during the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. The same year, Allen founds Bethel Church in Philadelphia. It is the first black Methodist Church in the nation, and will become the founding congregation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1814.
Learn more
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1797 |
Stephen Smith is born into slavery in Cecil County, Maryland. He will eventually partner with his cousin William Whipper and become a successful lumber and coal merchant, real estate speculator, informal banker, and philanthropist. By 1860 he will be worth $250,000 and by 1865 he will be the wealthiest African American alive, worth around $500,000.
Learn more
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1798 |
James Forten Sr.—a wealthy businessman, philanthropist, and abolitionist in Philadelphia—patents a sail-handling device and establishes the first and largest black-owned sailmaking business in the country.
Learn more
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1798 |
Born into slavery, John Stanley is manumitted by the North Carolina legislature. Known as “Barber Jack,” he later becomes wealthy operating barbershops. He spends $40,000 investing in plantations and purchasing a total of sixty-four slaves. He eventually frees eighteen slaves, including his wife and children. |
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1801 |
Elizabeth “Madame Betsy” Allergue of Virginia, opens and operates a store in Petersburg.
Learn more
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)
As part of the effort to curb the business activities of slaves, South Carolina enacts a slave code that states, “no slave or slaves shall be permitted to rent or hire any house, room, store or plantations, on his or her own account.”
Learn more
)
Jean Baptiste Point De Sable, the son of a Haitian slave and a Frenchman, builds a trading post on the site of present-day Chicago. Some sources put the date at 1779.
Learn more
)
Paul Cuffe, a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, sets sail as the first African American to captain his own ship.
Learn more
)
After being denied admission to the Boston Freemasons, Prince Hall, a businessman and Revolutionary War veteran, petitions the Grand Lodge of England and obtains a charter to create the first African American Masonic Lodge in the United States.
Learn more
)
The black mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker, publishes his first almanac. He sends a copy to Thomas Jefferson as evidence of the intellectual capacity of Africans. He is also appointed to help survey the land for the nation's capital in what will become Washington, D.C.
Learn more
)
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, who is the first ordained African American priest in the Episcopal Church, create a nonprofit undertaking business during the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. The same year, Allen founds Bethel Church in Philadelphia. It is the first black Methodist Church in the nation, and will become the founding congregation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1814.
Learn more
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