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The Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln "freed" the slaves with his Emancipation Proclamation. -
Strauder V. West Virginia
Strauder was an African American man convicted of murder. Strauder argued that W. Virginia's exclusionary policy violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Strauder won a victory for black rights. -
Civil Rights Cases
Congress decided they did not have right to regulate private acts. The 13th amendment does not prohibit people from acting in a discriminatory fashion. This decision confined African Americans to a second rate citizenship. -
Lynching and Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells has three of her friends murdered due to lynching in Memphis, Tennessee. Lynching was used to phsyically intimidate the newly freed African Americans. Wells began an anti-lynching campaign across America and Europe. -
The Birth of Ragtime
Ernest Hogan is the first African American to serve in a broadway show. Hogan helps to create Ragtime music. Ragtime would later inspire another popular form of music; jazz. -
Plessy V. Ferguson
A man named Plessy sat in a whites-only passenger car on a train and then proceeded to inform the conductor of his half black linege. He was told to sit in a separate car but refused. Plessy took his case to the Supreme Court but lost; the Supreme Court decided separate but equal facilities were constitutional. -
W.E.B. Du Bois
Helped found the Niagara Movement. The Movement championed freedom of speech and criticism. Du Bois believed African American's should challenge white's on everything. -
The First Great Migration
Beginning in 1910, many African Americans moved to the North. They did this in hopes of a better life and availability of jobs. They left for the major cities in order to avoid racism, segregation, and lynching in the South. -
Ku Klux Klan Revival
In the 1920's the Ku Klux Klan was revived by William J. Simmons in response to urbanization and industrialization. The Ku Klux Klan began operating in the North as well as the South. -
"New Negro"
Asa Randolph coined the term "New Negro" to describe the new spirit of militancy and impatience of the post-war era. Black soldiers demanded equality, especially when they had fought for it abroad.
