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Decades before abolition, enslaved people sued for their freedom in court and won. But today, the only freedom suit most people are familiar with is the case of Dred Scott. So why don't we know more about these early lawsuits? From Massachusetts to Missouri, the history of freedom suits is more complicated than you might think.

One hot, mosquito-filled summer, less than a decade after the birth of the US, yellow fever brought the capital city to the brink of collapse.

Deep in the Great Dismal Swamp, thousands of Black people created a hidden free society, one that defied slavery for centuries. This is the story of the rebels who turned a swamp into a sanctuary.

After the Revolutionary War, the U.S. was drowning in debt. To pay it off, it sold Native land it didn’t control. This is the story of how a powerful Native alliance fought back, slowing America’s westward expansion in a war forgotten by history.

Why were the British Caribbean colonies left out of the Revolution? Slavery explains it.

In the 1800s, a powerful coalition of politicians, enslavers, and even some abolitionists backed a radical idea: send free Black Americans to Liberia. Backed by the American Colonization Society, this movement sparked fierce debate across the country. This clash reveals how contested the idea of American citizenship has always been.

Ona Judge was born into slavery on George Washington's Mount Vernon plantation.

Why was the U.S.'s first foreign war fought off the coast of North Africa?