Abolitionist Biographies

BEECHER, Henry Ward Henry Ward Beecher June 24, 1813, Lichfield, CT – March 8, 1887, Brooklyn, NY Pastor, Newspaper Editor, Brooklyn Heights Resident. Henry Ward Beecher was the son of Reverend Lyman Beecher and the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. A graduate of Amherst College and Lane Theological Seminary in Ohio, Beecher became the inaugural pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. The church was fou…

Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

1850 marked the beginning of the crisis decade. Territorial gains made from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) reignited arguments over whether slavery should be allowed to expand in the United States. The Fugitive Slave Law was part of Congress’ attempt to balance the nation’s free and slave state interests. Instead, the line between free and slave blurred entirely and thousands of free black people in Brooklyn and beyond were at the whim of…

A Gradual Emancipation (1783 – 1827)

…very. The law stated that all children born to enslaved mothers after July 4, 1799 would be free at the age of 28 if male, and 25 if female. Slavery had no end date for those born prior to 1799. In 1817, a further act stipulated that slavery would come to an absolute end on July 4, 1827. Gradual emancipation lasted 28 years and there was no guarantee of equality at its end. But as long as slavery existed so did the desire to be free and enslaved…