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Freedmen's Bureau
The American Civil War ends, after the surrender of the Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and J.E. Johnston.
Congress establishes the Freedmen’s Bureau to help four million Black Americans in the transition from slavery to freedom. -
Howard University Founded
Howard University, a predominantly Black university, is founded in Washington, D.C. It is named for General Oliver Otis Howard, head of the Freedmen’s Bureau. -
Equal Rights To African American
The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is ratified, granting citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans. The South Carolina General Assembly consists of 85 Black and 70 white representatives. A product of Reconstruction, it is the first state legislature with a Black majority. -
Government Jobs
Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi takes the former seat of Jefferson Davis in the U.S. Senate. Revels is the only African American in the U.S. Congress and the first elected to the Senate.
Joseph Hayne Rainey is the first African American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. This congressman from South Carolina will enjoy the longest tenure of any African American representative during Reconstruction -
The Start of Separate But Equal
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama is founded on July 4. Booker T. Washington is the school’s first president.
Tennessee becomes the first state to enact a Jim Crow law. The law requires Blacks and whites to ride in separate railroad cars. -
University Founded and Excellence
Florida A&M University is founded as the State Normal (teacher-training) School for Colored Students.
Black journalist T. Thomas Fortune begins editing the New York Age. His well-known editorials defend the civil rights of African Americans and condemn racial discrimination. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Mary Church Terrell becomes the first president of the National Association of Colored Women, working for educational and social reform and an end to racial discrimination.
In the Plessy v. Ferguson decision concerning racial segregation, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the doctrine of “separate but equal.” It holds that laws that require Blacks and whites to use separate public facilities are constitutional as long as the facilities are reasonably equal. -
W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois publishes The Souls of Black Folk. It declares that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.”
In protest to the views of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois suggests the concept of the “Talented Tenth”—a group of college-educated Black leaders responsible for elevating Blacks economically and culturally. -
The Niagara Movement
The Niagara Movement is founded as a group of Black intellectuals from across the country meet near Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. They adopt resolutions demanding full equality in American life. W.E.B. Du Bois is the organization’s leader.
Madam C.J. Walker develops and markets a method for straightening curly hair. It leads to her becoming the first Black female millionaire in the United States. -
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Race Riot + more
Atlanta Baptist College expands its curriculum and is renamed Morehouse College.
In Springfield, Illinois, a major race riot occurs; the Black community is assaulted by several thousand white citizens, and two elderly Blacks are lynched.
A group of whites shocked by the Springfield riot of 1908 merge with W.E.B. Du Bois’s Niagara Movement. Together, they form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). -
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THE JAZZ AGE AND THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
James VanDerZee and his wife open the Guarantee Photo Studio in the Harlem district of New York City. The portraits he shoots later become a treasured chronicle of the Harlem Renaissance. -
Spelman College founded
Spelman Seminary becomes Spelman College. The school began in Georgia in 1881 with two Boston women teaching 11 Black women in an Atlanta church basement.
At a dinner sponsored by Opportunity magazine, Black writers and white publishers mingle. The event is considered the formal beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. -
Clark Atlanta
John Hope is chosen as president of Atlanta University, the first graduate school for African Americans. It later becomes Clark Atlanta University. -
Track n Field
Track-and-field athlete Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. His victories derail Adolf Hitler’s intended use of the games as a show of white supremacy. -
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1938–59: THE BIRTH OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT 1938
1938- In a knockout in the first round of their rematch, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis wreaks vengeance on Max Schmeling of Germany. Schmeling was the only boxer to have knocked out Louis in his prime.
Jazz vocalist Billie Holiday makes several of her finest recordings with saxophonist Lester Young.
Count Basie leads his legendary Kansas City jazz band. It includes saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeter Buck Clayton, bassist Walter Page, and drummer Jo Jones. -
Black Excellence
Painter Jacob Lawrence begins work on Migration of the Negro, a series of 60 paintings. The series depicts the journey of African Americans from the South to the cities of the North in the Great Migration.
Duke Ellington leads his greatest band. It includes bassist Jimmy Blanton, saxophonist Ben Webster, and trumpeter Cootie Williams.