1700s

Onesimus, an enslaved African man owned by Puritan minister Cotton Mather in Boston, described the African practice of variolation (deliberate inoculation with smallpox matter) to Mather during the 1721 smallpox epidemic. Mather promoted the technique, and Dr. Zabdiel Boylston applied it — saving hundreds of lives in what became the first major deployment of inoculation in American history. Onesimus's knowledge, drawn from African medical traditions, is credited by historians as the direct source of this life-saving intervention and an early example of African knowledge shaping American medicine.

In 1738 the Spanish colonial governor of Florida officially established Fort Mose (Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose) near St. Augustine as a settlement for escaped slaves from English colonies, making it the first legally sanctioned free Black settlement in what is now the United States. Its residents, led by Francisco Menéndez — himself a formerly enslaved Mandinka man — formed a militia and defended the settlement against British attack in 1740. Fort Mose represented a powerful statement about the possibility of Black freedom and self-governance in colonial North America.

Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved woman in Boston, published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in London in 1773, the first book of poetry published by a Black American and only the third book published by an American woman. Her achievement prompted a celebrated examination by Boston's leading men who certified her authorship.

Olaudah Equiano publishes 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano' in London, describing his childhood in the Igbo kingdom, Middle Passage, enslavement, self-purchase of freedom, and seafaring life. The book sells through nine editions in his lifetime, is translated across Europe, and becomes the most influential slave narrative before Frederick Douglass.

The Haitian Revolution began with a massive slave uprising in Saint-Domingue, ultimately led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, which resulted in the founding of Haiti in 1804 as the first Black republic in the Western Hemisphere and the only successful slave revolution in history. The revolution sent shockwaves through American slave society, inspiring enslaved people and free Black Americans while terrifying slaveholders, and profoundly shaped American debates about slavery and race.

Anton Wilhelm Amo, born in Ghana around 1703 and brought to Germany as a child, defends his dissertation 'On the Rights of Moors in Europe' at Halle in 1729 and later publishes 'On the Impassivity of the Human Mind' (1734). He lectures at Halle and Jena, becoming the first African to attend and teach philosophy at a European university.

Francisco Menéndez, a Mandinka-born man who had been enslaved in South Carolina before escaping to Spanish Florida, was appointed captain of the Fort Mose militia in 1738 — commanding the first legally recognized free Black military unit in North American history. He led his unit in repelling a British attack at the Battle of Fort Mose in 1740, and continued to serve as a military leader and privateer. His life documents extraordinary agency and leadership under extraordinary circumstances.

Francisco Menéndez, formerly enslaved in Carolina and freed by the Spanish, is appointed captain of the Fort Mose free Black militia. He successfully defends Fort Mose during the British siege of 1740, helping repel Governor Oglethorpe's invasion of Florida. His military service earns him land, freedom papers, and a salary — extraordinary standing for any 18th-century Black man in the Americas.

Spanish authorities establish Fort Mose near St. Augustine, Florida, as a free Black community for people escaped from British colonies. Under Francisco Menendez's leadership, its residents defend Spanish Florida, making Fort Mose the first legally sanctioned free Black settlement in what is now the United States.

Spanish colonial authorities establish Fort Mose (Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose) near St. Augustine, Florida, as a free Black community for formerly enslaved people who escaped British colonies. Under the leadership of Francisco Menéndez, the fort's residents defend Spanish Florida, making Fort Mose the first legally sanctioned free Black settlement in what is now the United States.

Lucy Terry Prince, an enslaved woman in Deerfield, Massachusetts, composes 'Bars Fight,' a ballad recounting a 1746 Abenaki raid. Preserved orally for over a century before print publication in 1855, it is the earliest known poem by a Black American. Her vivid, metrically precise verse demonstrates extraordinary literary talent despite her enslavement.

Jupiter Hammon, an enslaved man on Long Island, New York, publishes 'An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penetential Cries' on Christmas Day 1761 — an 88-line broadside poem. He becomes the first Black American to have his writing published in print, predating Phillis Wheatley's debut and launching an African American literary tradition.

Crispus Attucks, a formerly enslaved man of African and Wampanoag descent, became the first person killed in the Boston Massacre when British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonial protesters. His death made him one of the first martyrs of the American Revolution, symbolizing Black sacrifice in the cause of American liberty long before Black people were granted its benefits.

Before her book can be published in London, Phillis Wheatley is examined by a panel of 18 prominent Boston men — including John Hancock and the governor's lieutenant — to verify that an enslaved girl actually authored the poems. She passes the examination. The attestation published in her 1773 book is itself a document of both her genius and her society's disbelief.