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The French Revolution Begins
The Fall of the Bastille in Paris -
French Priests Arrive in Baltimore to Found the First Catholic Seminary in the U.S.
Several members of the Society of Saint-Sulpice, an institution of French priests who specialized in the formation of clergy, flee religious persecution during the French Revolution. They arrive on invitation of the first Catholic bishop in the US, John Carroll. The seminary and college they found in Baltimore would become an important center of the city's Catholic and French-speaking communities of which Lange was a part. -
The Haitian Revolution Begins
In August 1791, slaves launch a massive revolt across the sugar plantations of the Northern Plain, on the outskirts of the port of Cap François, on the island of Saint-Domingue -
The Burning of Cap François
The battle for Cap François culminates in the destruction of the city and launches the largest refugee exodus of the Haitian Revolution. Many families, including whites as well as free people of color, flee. 5,000 refugees board 130 ships, most bound for the United States. -
The First Wave of Saint-Domingue Refugees Arrive in Baltimore, Maryland
22 ships carrying more than 500 refugees from the ruins of Cap François, St Domingue, arrives in the Fells Point neighborhood of the city. By 22 July, 53 ships from St. Domingue had brought a total of 1,000 white colonists and 500 slaves and people of color.
Baltimore Population in 1790: less than 14,000
The refugee influx increased the city population by 10%. -
The Santiago de Cuba Diaspora and Lange's Birth
There is no consensus about Lange's birthdate. By some accounts, she was born in 1784, on the island of Saint-Domingue (today's Haiti), after which her family fled to Cuba near the beginning of the Haitian Revolution. Others hold that she was born after her parents fled, in either Matanzas or Santiago de Cuba (pictured), which hosted a large refugee community from St-Domingue. Source: Laguerre, Michel 2016. Diasporic Citizenship: Haitian Americans in Transnational America. NY: Springer, p. 41. -
Cuban Officials Expel Saint-Domingue Refugee Community
In 1809, Spain was at war with Napoleon's France. As the so-called Peninsular War raged in Europe, Cuban officials expelled the French-speaking Saint-Domingue refugee community that had been living in and around the city of Santiago since at least 1793, when some 10,000 arrived. Lange and her mother were part of this community. Most who were expelled ended up in New Orleans, but Lange and her mother travelled first to Charleston, South Carolina, and finally, ended up in Baltimore. -
Lange Arrives in Baltimore
There was already an established Saint-Domingue refugee community in Baltimore when Lange arrived from Cuba around 1813. Oral tradition within the congregation she later founded (the Oblate Sisters of Providence) holds that Lange arrived first in Charleston, South Carolina, then traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, before settling in Baltimore, Maryland, before 1813. She spent much of her time in the chapel of the Sulpician Seminary, which survives to this day (pictured). -
Battle of Baltimore
One of the most important battles of the War of 1812, the Battle of Baltimore ends in an American victory over the British, but shakes the city. Some enslaved people had been recruited by the British to fight against the Americans; Lange and her mother had entered a city where racial tensions were already high. -
The Founding of the Oblate Sisters of Providence
In Baltimore, Lange opened a free school for children of color, then an official academy for girls of color in 1828, with the support of the diocese of Baltimore and Fr. Hector Joubert (pictured), a white priest from St. Domingue. With his support, in 1829, Lange founded the OSP, along with 3 other women of color whose families had fled the French Caribbean. This was the first community of Catholic religious of African descent in the US. (Sr Reginald Gerdes, OSP, “What We Have Seen and Heard”) -
Mother Lange Confronts Racism in a Letter to the Sulpician Superior
Lange responded to Louis Deluol, the superior of St. Mary’s Seminary, who proposed that his congregation pay the Oblate Sisters to serve them as maids. She agreed, but wrote: “We do not conceal the difficulty of our situation [a]s persons of color and religious at the same time, and we wish to conciliate these two qualities [&] not [lack] the respect which is due to the state we have embraced...” Morrow, Diane Batts. 2002. Persons of Color and Religious at the Same Time. Chapel Hill: UNC Press. -
End of Second Tenure as Mother-Superior of the OBS and Beyond
In addition to serving as the OSP's founder and first superior from 1829 to 1832, Lange served again from 1835 to 1841. Under the direction of Mother Lange, the OSP ran an orphanage, a widow’s home, religious education classes and vocational training. Throughout the 19th c., the Sisters also ran covert night schools for black adults to learn how to read and write.
(Sr. Reginald Gerdes, OSP, “What We Have Seen and Heard”) -
The U.S. Civil War Begins
Baltimore was a divided city during the Civil War. It was officially on the side of the Union, but slavery remained legal there, and many white citizens favored the South. That tension erupted early on in the Baltimore Riot of April 19, 1861 (pictured). -
Slavery Abolished in Maryland
The Maryland Constitution of 1864 abolished slavery. It was narrowly approved, ending the practice that had been legal in the state since 1663. Although slavery was abolished, laws restricting the rights of blacks were not, and the OSP continued to serve a community restricted from most educational institutions.
Pictured: extract from Boston Commonwealth published weekly Sep 6, 1862-Dec 28, 1895, November 5, 1864 issue -
Mother Lange dies
Her remains were interred at the Cathedral Cemetery of Baltimore (and later transferred to the New Cathedral cemetery)
