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Dred Scott vs. Sanford
Description: The Dred Scott case holds that Congress does not have the right to ban slavery in states and, furthermore, that slaves are not citizens.
Impact: This greatly hindered the developmet of African American Rights.
Why: This event was a major setback for the African American philosophy of freedom. -
Black Codes
Description: Black codes are passed by Southern states, drastically restricting the rights of newly freed slaves.
Impact: Even after the Civil War, new laws were passed to hinder the wellbeing and rights of African Americans.
Why: This event shows the emerging resistance to Civil Rights directly after the Civil War. -
Ratification of 15th Amendment
Description: On Febuary 3, 1870 the fifteenth amendment to the Unitred States constitution was raitfied. The amendment prohibits the government from denying citizens of America to vote based on "race, color or previous condition of servitude" there for african-americans now had the right to vote.
Impact: African Americans were allowed to vote.
Why: This event was a major milestone in African American Rights. -
NAACP Was Founded
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded on Febuary 12, 1909 by W.E.B Dubois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Henry Moscowitz , Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, and William English Walling. The organization was a respond to the terrible lynchings of african-americans and its goal was to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. -
Universal Negro Improvement Association is Formed
Description: Marcus Garvey establishes the Universal Negro Improvement Association, an influential black nationalist organization "to promote the spirit of race pride" and create a sense of worldwide unity among blacks.
Impact: This event laid the foundation for the future Civil Rights Movement.
Why: This event was one of the first organizations promoting racial pride. -
Drafting of the UN Charter
Description: African American Scholar, Ralph Bunche, plays an integral role in drafting the UN Charter.
Impact: This involvment assisted in deciding the future of the colonial world.
Why: This event lays a foundation for the future credibility of African American scholars and expresses their relevancy to society. -
Bayard Rustin Visits India
Description: Bayard Rustin visits India to study the Gandhian philosophy of nonviolence.
Impact: He later becomes a key advisor to
King during the Montgomery bus boycott and the deputy director of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Why: This event highlights the adoption of non-violence by African American philosophers and lays the foundation for peaceful protests during the Civil Rights Movement. -
American Committee on Africa is formed.
Description: The ACOA supported African liberation struggles against colonialism through lobbying the United Nations and U.S. government officials, publishing pamphlets, a magazine, and reports on liberation struggles for both public and policy-making audiences.
Impact: This impacted the legal recognition of African American Philosophy
Why: This event was a milestone in legal representation of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Description: In Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas the US Supreme Court rules that segregated schools
are “inherently unequal” and orders that schools be integrated with “all deliberate speed.
Impact: Briefs presented to the Supreme Court emphasize the international criticism of US race relations and the US image abroad.
Why: This was an early recognition to the opposition against segregation. -
Rosa Parks Attends Highlander Folk School
Description: Rosa Parks attends Highlander Folk School in Tennessee and studies the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights during a workshop focused on the dismantling of Southern segregation laws.
Impact: Human Rights becomes a main component of African American's pursuit for freedom.
Why: Human Rights were the pinacle of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Embarks for India
Description: Martin Luther King Jr., his wife, Coretta Scott King, and Lawrence Reddick, began a five week tour of India.
Impact: Hindu philosophy greatly impacted King's [ersonal philosophy. He said afterwords: "We were looked upon as brothers, with the color of our skins as something of an asset.
Why: King’s trip to India had a profound influence on his understanding of nonviolent resistance and his commitment to America’s struggle for civil rights. -
First Meeting of the Organization for African Unity
Description: The first meeting of the Organization of African Unity takes place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and is attended by African heads of state, who discuss the harsh treatment of civil rights protestors in Birmingham and draft a statement for
President Kennedy.
Impact: This increased civil activism in the US.
Why: African Heads of State support US Civil Rights. -
Malcolm X Pilgrimage to Mecca
Description: Malcolm X left the United States on a personal and spiritual journey through the Middle East and West Africa.
Impact: The experience changed Malcolm’s world view. Gone was the belief in whites as exclusively evil. Gone was the call for black separatism. His voyage to Mecca helped him discover the atoning power of Islam as a means to unity as well as self-respect.
Why: This impacted the policies of The Nation of Islam significantly. -
Black Panther Party Formation
Description: The Black Panther Party (BPP) is formed in Oakland, California. As part of their 10 point program they demand,
“We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.”
Impact: This rasies the scope of the Civil Rights Movement dramatically, offering new rights to Blacks.
Why: This event symbolizes the willpower of African Americans to unite for common causes. -
Barack Obama Elected President
Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States and first African - American president in U.S history. He was elected in 2008 and then relected again in 2012, he's currently serving his second term.
