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First 20 African Slaves
In 1619, 20 African slaves were sold to settlers in the Virginia colony to act as "indentured servants". -
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Civil Rights Movements in America
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African Slavery in America
Thomas Paine's article, Afriacn Slavery in America, was published in the Weekly Advertiser and the Pennsylvania Journal. Paine was a known abolitionist. -
Three-fifths of a Person
The constitution was amended to count slaves as three-fifths of a person. This was done for the purpose of represention for political reasons. -
Trial of Tears
The "Trial of Tears" removed 18,000 Cherokee Indians from their homeland and forced them to resettle west of the Mississippi. -
Seneca Falls
In Seneca Fall, NY the First Women's Rights Convention was held and became known as the Seneca Falls Convention. At this convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton introduced an amendment to the constitution that would give women the right to vote. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott, a slave who inhabited free territory in the United States, filed a federal case suing for his freedom supported by the fact that he lived on free soil. The Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens, therefore had no right to sue. -
Beginning of the Civil War
In 1861, the Civil War began. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamtion. The document stated "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and hencefoward shall be free." -
Amendment XIII
The Thirteenth Amendment was added to the constitution stating that "neither slavery not unvoluntary servitude...shall exist" in the United States of America. -
End of the Civil War
The last major Confederate Army under Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. -
The Assassination of President Lincoln
President Lincoln was assassinated. -
Amendment XIV
The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified giving African Americans full citizenship in the United States. The Amendment additonally prohibits states from denying African Americans due process of law or protection. Upon this amendment, Congress reported that whites had killed 373 freed slaves. -
"Jim Crow"
Tennessee passed the first "Jim Crow" law which started the spread of segregation throughout the south. -
Amendment XV
The Fifteenth Amendment, which guaruntees the right to vote regardless of race, was ratified into the Constitution. -
First Civil Rights Act
Congress passed a law that gave African Americans equal rights in transportation, restaurants, hotels, theaters, and juries. This law is the first Civil Rights Act. -
Congress Passes the Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act prohibits the immigration of Chinese laborers for a period of 10 years and requires that they carry IDs. A decade later, the act was extended for another ten years. -
Woman Suffrage Amendment
The Woman Suffrage Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was introduced to Congress however was quickly defeated. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
United States soldiers killed approximately 200 Dakota Indian natives. This was the last conflict of the "Indian Wars". -
Plessy v. Ferguson
A Supreme Court case ruled that segregation falls under the realms of the Constitution. -
NAACP
W.E.B. Du Bois, Jane Addams, and John Dewey founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. -
Women in Congress
The first woman was elected to Congress, Rep. Jeanette Rankin (R-Mont.) -
Jones Act
The Jones ACt granted full citizenship to Puerto Ricans and allowed them to be represented by a delegate with limited power in Congress. -
Amendment XXI
The Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote. -
Ozawa v. United States
The Japanese are denied the right to naturalization by the Supreme Court. -
Cable Act
The Cable Act, passed by Congress, states that "any woman citizen who marries an alien ineligible to citizenship, shall cease to be a citizen." -
Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
Congress passes the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, after 10,000 Native American soldiers served in WWI. This act granted citizenship to Native Americans. -
LULAC
Founded to educate Chicanos and fight segregation and discrimination, the League of United Latin American Citizens was founded. -
Japanese American Citizenship League
The formation of the Japanese American Citizenship League was a result of continuing discrimination against Japenese in the United States. -
Mass Deportation
400,000 Mexicans were deported to Mexico after being accused of stealing jobs from Americans during the Great Depression. -
Executive Order by President Roosevelt
President Roosevelt issues an executive order that banned discrimination against minorities in defense contracts. -
Relocation Camps
110,000 Japanese Americans are placed in relocation camps. They are encircled by barbed wire and guards are ordered to shoot anyone who attepts to leave. -
#42
Jackie Robinson joins a Major League Baseball team, and is the first African American player. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court overrules the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson by ruling deliberate public school segregation illegal. -
Emmett Till
A 14 year old boy, Emmett Till, is shot, lynched, and beaten by white men after being accused of saying "bye, baby" to a white woman. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks participates in the Montgomery bus boycott led by MLK Jr. by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white male. -
University of Alabama
The first African American, Autherine Lucy, is admitted to the University of Alabama. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott ends. The city in Alabama decided to comply with the Supreme Court ruling that declares segregation on buses illegal. -
CORE
The Freedom Rides was organized by the Congress of Racial Equality to test the new Interstate Commerce Comission regulations. Riders were beaten by mobs throughout Alabama. -
United Farm Workers Union
Ceasar Chavez, leader of the United Farm Workers Union, organizes to win bargain power for Mexican Americans. -
March on Washington
President JFK, in an attempt to call off the March on Washington, meets with civil rights leaders at the White House. His attempts fail, and over a quarter of a million people participate in the march. -
"I have a dream"
During the March on Washington, over a quarter of a million people here Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I have a dream" speech. -
Malcolm X Dies
Malcolm X is assasinated. -
Voting Rights Campaign
In Selma, Ala. a voting rights campaign takes place. This leads to the Voting Rights Act being passed, which ends the use of literacy tests. -
NOW
Fighting for full equality between the sexes, the National Organization for Women is founded. -
Stonewall Riots
The gay rights movement begins with two nights of rioting after a police raid on the Stonewall inn, a bar catering to homosexuals and transgender individuals. -
Section 504
Congress passes Section 504 of the Vocation Rehabilitation Act, which bars the discrimination of disabled people, -
Roe v. Wade
After a controversial Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, most states restrictive abortion laws are shut down. This ruling expands the right to legal, safe abortion. -
Homosexuality as a Mental Illness
The Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association makes a unanimous decision to remove the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness. -
First National Women's Conference
Held in Houston, Texas, the First National Women's Conference aims at empowering women and promotes equal opportunity. -
Banning Homosexuality
A Supreme Court ruling declares that states have the right to outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.