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Many slaves had fled their Southern masters to join the British army, with a promise of freedom.
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The American colonies claimed independence, equality, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
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The Northern states fought against the Southern states. The most fundamental issue of the War was the slavery. Almost all Northern states abolished slavery. In the Southern states many people were the opinion that slaves are possessions and no human. For the white people there were inferior.
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The law segregated black and white people in all areas of society. African Americans rarely voted because the majority could not afford to pay the so called Poll Tax. Furthermore, a lot African Americans who voted were attacked, often by Ku Klux Klan member, who wanted to intimidate.
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On December 6th 1865 slavery was abolished.
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Between 1924 and 1925 135 black people were lynched mostly by Ku Klux Klan members.
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After WW2 Harry S Truman (president) attempted to pass laws against lynching and the Poll Tax, this was rejected by Congress. However, he was able to abolish segregation in the armed forces.
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Between 1950s and 1960s African Americans became active and began to fight for equal rights.
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In December 1964 the most famous civil right movement leader Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (he was known for acting peaceful)
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In the 1960s there were a lot of race riots and many important laws (civil rights act, voting rights act, fair housing acts) were passed.
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After Martin Luther Kings death Malcom X became the figurehead of the Black Power movement, he advocated more violent means. Malcolm X was killed in 1965.
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1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated.
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In the seventies, African Americans became more and more proud to be black and enjoyed success in the world of politics, sports and entertainment.
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In January 2009 Barack Obama became the first black President of the USA.
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Today racial inequality is still a fact, as well as poverty, prejudices, discrimination and in the last years the number of incidents of police violence increased extremely.
