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Slavery in America
From the early British settlers in 1619 until the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery was legal in many states. Early forms of slavery included indentured servants, both black and white, who worked as slaves to pay off their journey to the country. Chattel slavery was more common by the early 1700s. Most of these slaves were African, but some were Native American. These people were considered property. They were bought and sold & faced physical abuse for disobeying their masters. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the proclamation freeing slaves in the rebellious southern states. Although it was limited and didn\'t apply to all states, it was the first step in abolishing slavery. -
Thirteenth Amendment
This amendment abolished slavery in the United States. It was passed by the senate on April 8, 1864, and ratified on December 6, 1865. In response, many southern states created anti-black legistlation known as the Jim Crow Laws, severely limiting the rights of blacks in the post-Civil War South. -
Mark Twain pulishes "A True Story"
Twain writes the story about a former slave telling the story of being separated from her children during the Civil War. -
Twain writes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Twain found the inspiration for the novel when he returned to his hometown in Missouri. Although slavery was abolished 20 years earlier, Twain realized that NOTHING had changed. Blacks still had no rights and were not treated as equals. Huck Finn takes place before the Civil War and in the novel, Huck becomes friends with a slave and realizes that what he\'s been taught his whole life as being right is not what his conscience tells him is right. -
The Scottsboro Boys Trial
In Alabama in 1931, nine black boys were accused of raping two white girls on a train. The boys were tried together, given inadequate legal representation, and the boys who were not adults were tried as adults anyway. An all-white jury found all but one guilty and sentenced them to death. The one boy who was not convicted was only 12 years old. Through appeals, the case eventually made it to the Alabama Supreme Court and while the boys managed to escape the death penalty, they served priso -
Setting of To Kill a Mockingbird
Although she wrote the novel in 1960, Harper Lee set To Kill a Mockingbird in the 1930s, in an Alabama town modeled after the town she grew up in, where racism was an ingrained part of society. (Jim Crow still rules the South.) -
Publication of To Kill a Mockingbird
As the Civil Rights Movement picks up steam, Harper Lee\'s anti-racist novel is published. Much like Twain\'s Huck Finn, the setting of the novel happens several years before publication, but the novel is still very relevant to the racial climate of the time. -
Setting of The Help
Set in 1963 in Jackson, Mississippi, The Help is the story of black women who work as maids for white families. Jim Crow still rules in Mississippi, and these women are treated unfairly and receive less than minimum wage. -
The Civil Rights Act signed into law
Enacted July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act ended segretation and gave equal rights to blacks and women. -
America elects its first black president
In November of 2008, America elected its first black president, a man born three years before the passing of the Civil Rights Act. (Way to go, America. About time.)
