Larry Bittner, a lawyer who campaigned with Mrs Rathbun, said she had the strength of purpose of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, two former slaves who became prominent in 19th-century reformist movements in America.

ECONOMIST: Mary Jane Rathbun | The

Malaria, yellow fever and other mortal illnesses became endemic, which is one reason so many slaves were transported.

FORBES: Columbus: Father of Globalization

However, due to the lack of skilled craftsmen in Cuba, where African slaves made up the bulk of the labour force, Cuban Baroque became a simplified version of European Baroque, with a more streamlined and muscular profile than Paris or Vienna.

BBC: Cuba��s eclectic architecture

Born on the fringe of the Virginian planter aristocracy, George Washington became a grandee by marriage, proprietor of thousands of acres and master of hundreds of slaves.

ECONOMIST: George Washington