A Juneteenth Tribute
The end of slavery was not the work of one person or one moment. It was the labor of generations—of those who escaped, those who resisted, those who organized, those who fought, those who wrote and spoke and marched and died.
Frederick Douglass
c. 1818 – 1895
Born into slavery in Maryland, escaped to freedom, and became the most influential African American of the 19th century. His autobiographies and speeches electrified the abolitionist movement. "If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
Harriet Tubman
c. 1822 – 1913
"Moses." Escaped slavery and returned South 13 times to lead approximately 70 people to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Served as a scout and spy for the Union Army. "I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger."
Sojourner Truth
c. 1797 – 1883
Born Isabella Baumfree into slavery in New York. Became an itinerant preacher, abolitionist, and women's rights activist. Her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the 1851 Women's Rights Convention in Ohio remains one of history's most powerful addresses.
William Lloyd Garrison
1805 – 1879
Founder of The Liberator, the most influential abolitionist newspaper. "I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice... I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD."
Robert Smalls
1839 – 1915
Enslaved ship pilot who commandeered a Confederate military transport ship, the CSS Planter, and delivered it to the Union Navy. Later served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
1811 – 1896
Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which sold 300,000 copies in its first year and changed public opinion about slavery. Legend holds that Lincoln greeted her: "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war."
John Brown
1800 – 1859
Radical abolitionist who led the raid on Harper's Ferry, attempting to spark a slave uprising. His execution made him a martyr. "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry
1863
One of the first Black regiments in the Union Army. Led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the 54th proved Black soldiers' valor at the assault on Fort Wagner. Nearly 180,000 Black soldiers served in the Union Army; 40,000 died.
The Unnamed Millions
1619 – 1865
The enslaved people whose names history did not record. Those who resisted in ways large and small. Those who kept their families together. Those who preserved culture and faith. Those who survived. Those who did not. We remember them.