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Jan 1, 1505
First slaves brought to the Americas
Around 1505, enslaved Africans were first brought to the New World. The Africans were first brought over to provide labor for the sugar industry as there was a shortage of laborers to tend to this agricultural need. For the next three and a half centuries, slaves of African origin provided most of the labor for the sugar industry in the Americas.
Source: West, Jean M. Sugar and Slavery: Molasses to Rum to Slaves -
Bacon's Rebellion
Nathanial Bacon's Rebellion demonstrated that poor whites and poor blacks could be united in a cause. Bacon and many others wanted to drive all Indian's out of Virginia. He had a large following that led to the setting on fire of Jamestown. The rebellion ended after British authorities sent a royal force to assist in quelling the uprising and arresting scores of committed rebels, white and black.
Source: Virginia Places -
Stono's Rebellion
20 black slaves met in secret near the Stono River in South Carolina to plan their escape to freedom. They burst into Hutcheson's store at Stono's bridge, killed the two storekeepers, and stole the guns and powder inside.
They grew in number as they headed south. Stono's Rebellion was the largest slave uprising in the Colonies prior to the American Revolution.
Source: America's Library -
200,000 Slaves in the colonies
By 1750, about 200,000 slaves lived in the colonies. The majority lived in the South on plantations that grew rice, tobacco, sugar cane, and later cotton. Most plantation slaves worked in the fields, others were craftworkers, messengers, and servants.
Source: Worldbook -
Revolutionary War
VIrginia's royal governor, Lord unmore, offered to free slaves and indentured servants tht were willing to join the British forces during the Revolution. 1,000 slaves rallied to the British and tens of thousands of runaway slavs eventually joined the British. At the end of the war, at least 9,000 slaves left with the redcoats.
Source: Norton, Mary Beth, et al. A People & A Nation (p 138) -
Vermont bans slavery
The newly formed state, which broke away from New York, abolished slavery outright in its constitution, dated July 8, 1777. This was the first constitution anywhere in the western hemisphere to outlaw slavery
Source: Slavery in the North -
Nat Turner Rebellion
Six other men went with Turner to his master's house and killed his master's entire family. Then they went house-to-house, killing other whites. In the process, they gained the assistance of fifty to sixty slaves who helped kill at least 55 white people. The rebellion ended when the militia began pursuing Turner and the other slaves. On November 11, 1831, Turner was hanged and skinned.
Spurce: McElrath, J.About.com -
Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman ran away in 1849 in fear of being sold. She made many trips back to help escort her family members as well as other slaves to freedom. Tubman had made the perilous trip to slave country 19 times by 1860, including one especially challenging journey in which she rescued her 70-year-old parents. The Underground Railroad was an organized system for helping fugitive slaves escape areas of safety.
Source: PBS.org -
Compromise of 1850: Fugitive Slave Act
The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery. Its goal was to deal with the spread of slavery to territories in order to keep northern and southern interests in balance. The Fugitive Slave Act made any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine.
Source: Library of Congress -
Emancipation Proclamation
In 1863 Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which legally freed the slaves in the rebel states. The Proclamation did not immediately break many bonds of slavery, but is representative of Lincoln's fierce personal detestation of the practice of slavery.
Source: National Archives & Records
