James Augustine Healy, the first Black Roman Catholic Bishop, was born on this date in Macon, Georgia. Bishop Healy was the son of a slave mother and an Irish immigrant father. He was appointed to Portland, Maine by the Catholic Church.

The first National Negro Convention meets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania convening delegates from Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia to discuss the founding of a black college and an initiative to encourage blacks to immigrate to Canada. The conventions become extremely prevalent during the next three decades and serve as the organizational backbone of antebellum black political life.