Before 1961, May 24 was celebrated in Jamaica as Empire Day in honour of the birthday of Queen Victoria and her emancipation of slaves in Jamaica.

Before and during the Civil War, the Ohio River was called the " River Jordan " by slaves crossing it to escape to freedom in the North via the Underground Railroad.

" Before the war, Sherman at times even expressed some sympathy with the view of Southern whites that the black race was benefiting from slavery, although he opposed breaking up slave families and advocated teaching slaves to read and write.

Before the American Civil War, Southern defenders of African American slavery invoked the concept of wage slavery to favorably compare the condition of their slaves to workers in the North.

Before the war, the population of slaves had been counted as three-fifths of a comparable number of free whites.

Eventually Eva falls terminally ill. Before dying, she gives a lock of her hair to each of the slaves, telling them that they must become Christians so that they may see each other in Heaven.

Before Nicholls left in the summer of 1815, he left the fort in the hands of fugitive slaves and Seminoles whom he had originally recruited for possible incursions into U. S. territory during the war.

Before the American Civil War, the area around West Branch was an active focal point of the Underground Railroad, a network for the freeing of slaves from the southern states.

Before the American Civil War, Nebraska City was noted as having the Territory's largest population of slaves.

Before the Civil War, Racine was well known for its strong opposition to slavery, with many slaves escaping to freedom via the Underground Railroad passing through the city.

Before being defeated, his army of escaped gladiators and slaves defeated several Roman legions in what is known as the Third Servile War.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, gifts included storable food ( oolichan, or candlefish, oil or dried food ), canoes, and slaves among the very wealthy, but otherwise not income-generating assets such as resource rights.

Before even graduating from his apprenticeship, Westervelt accepted an offer to start business in Charleston, where he undertook the construction of two schooners, with the help of African American slaves from planters in and around Charleston ( with his employer's consent ).

Before arriving in Georgia, Kemble had already concluded, “ It is notorious, that almost every Southern planter has a family more or less numerous of illegitimate coloured children .” It is significant that her statements about Roswell King, Sr. and Roswell King, Jr. and their alleged status as the white fathers of enslaved mulatto children are based on what she was told by slaves who themselves were in some cases inclined to accept hearsay accounts about their paternity.

Before she was 18, her mother had been killed by whalers, her first fiance had died while saving her from abduction, and in 1828, her two sisters, Lowhenunhue and Maggerleede, had been abducted and taken to Kangaroo Island, off South Australia and sold as slaves.

Before his death, he acquired more land and held more than 1, 000 slaves.

Before his death, Chastelein had written a will that freed the slave families of Depok and gave them pieces of his land, converting slaves into landlords.

Before the outbreak of the American Civil War, he refused the demands of Kentucky and Virginia state authorities for the extradition of fugitive slaves or the punishment of those who helped them.

Before the abolition of slavery, slaves were prohibited from owning assets or receiving an education ; but after being freed, former slaves were left to make their own way in the world.

Before the American Civil War the mountain was a popular hiding place for slaves who had escaped from their owners in the central and eastern sections of North Carolina.

Before the American Civil War, Southern defenders of African American slavery invoked the concept to favorably compare the condition of their slaves to workers in the North.

Before the onset of the official asiento in 1595, the Spanish fiscal authorities gave individual asientoes to merchants, primarily from Portugal, to bring slaves to the Americas.

Before the American Civil War, these plantations were worked by thousands of African American slaves.

Before they could guess his intention Rankin stepped forward and swung the guard's own gun against the uncovered head, hard.

Before memory, too, clouds over, let us make a note or two of what could be seen.

Before he could duck, another stone struck him.

Before he left the apartment he knocked on their door and asked if there was anything he could do for them.

Before the Juniors entered the ring the Steward announced that after all Juniors had moved their dogs around the ring and set them up, they could relax with their dogs.

Before Roberts could move inside to cut upward toward his face, he slammed his right fist into Roberts' belly.

Before he could snap it on, a stinging blow caught him in the ribs.

Before he could return to Burma, Field Marshal Slim had to rally the defeated remnants of a discouraged army and unite them with fresh recruits.

Before he could pass the river with safety, however, it was necessary to subdue certain fortresses, one of which was for several days vigorously defended by the governor, Yussuf el-Harezmi, a Khwarezmian.

Before the passage of the lex annalis, individuals could run for the Aedileship by the time they turned twenty-seven.

Before the demolition could take place, Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair ( Director of Naval Intelligence and head of MI6 ) bought the site.

Before 1873, England had two parallel court systems: courts of " law " that could only award money damages and recognized only the legal owner of property, and courts of " equity " ( courts of chancery ) that could issue injunctive relief ( that is, a court order to a party to do something, give something to someone, or stop doing something ) and recognized trusts of property.

Before Stalin's consolidation of power, the Central Committee featured open debate, where even leading officials could be criticised.

Before a systematic excavation of the site could be undertaken, the village had to be relocated but the residents resisted.

Before the vote to award franchises in 1959, Murchison revealed to Marshall that he owned the song and Marshall could not play it during games.

Before many copies of the book could be printed, however, the printing press and most of the printed copies were destroyed by a mob in Missouri.

Before the advent of fast computing machines, solving a dynamical system required sophisticated mathematical techniques and could be accomplished only for a small class of dynamical systems.

Before the invention of the integrated circuit in 1959, electronic circuits were constructed from discrete components that could be manipulated by humans.

Before the question could be answered, the notion of " algorithm " had to be formally defined.

Before a new Grand Alliance could be concluded Leopold I prepared to send an expedition to seize the Spanish lands in Italy.

Before a lord could grant land ( a fief ) to someone, he had to make that person a vassal.

Before, geologists could only use fossils to date sections of rock relative to one another.

Before a new employee could rise to the level of mastery, he had to go through a schooling period during which he was first called an apprentice.

Before the assembled cardinals and delegations could engage in theological discussion, they had to decide how to sit during the proceedings.