Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

Read More

Publication of the Dying Confession of Pomp contributes to the false idea of Black criminality.

1795

MHP
RAC
SLA
SRA
PIC

Its full title is The Dying Confession of Pomp, A Negro Man, Who Was Executed at Ipswich, on the 6th August, 1795, for Murdering Capt. Charles Furbush, of Andover, Taken from the Mouth of the Prisoner, and Penned by Jonathan Plummer. In this confession, Pomp outlines his extensive beating at the hands of Furbush, his attempts to run away, and the "fits," "voices," and "lunacy" that he experienced before killing Furbush. Masses of similar materials followed, projecting a false narrative of criminality and danger as being essential qualities of Blackness.