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Beginning of slavery
The first slaves arrive in Virginia. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise prohibits slavery north of the southern border of Missoury. -
Harriet Trubman
Harriet Trubman escapes from slavery. -
The Dred Scott case
The Dred Scott case holds that Congress does not have the right to prohibit slavery in states and that slaves are not citizens. -
Beginning of Civil War
The Confederacy is founded when the deep South seperates, and the Civil War begins. -
Abraham Lincoln
President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring "that all persons held as slaves" within the Confederate states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Freedmen's Bureau
Congress establishes the Freedmen's Bureau to protect the rights of newly emancipated blacks. -
End Civil War
The Civil War ends (April 9). Lincoln is assassinated (April 14). -
KKK
The Ku Klux Klan is formed in Tennessee by ex-Confederates (May). -
14th amendment of the US Constitution
14th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, defining citizenship. Individuals born in the USA are American citizens, including those born as slaves. -
15th Amendment
15th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote. -
Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws are state and local laws that reinforce racial segregation in the Southern United States. -
Racial segregation
Board of Education of Topeka, Kans. declares that racial segregation in schools is unconstitutional. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama (Dec.1). In response to her arrest, Montgomery's black community launch a bus boycott. This boycott ends on Dec. 21, 1956. -
The Litlle Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American students registered in Little Rock Central High School. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school. -
Martin Luther King / March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom is attended by about 250,000 people, the largest demonstration ever seen in the nation's capital. Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s) -
Civil Rights Act / KKK
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act. It prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion or national origin (July 2). The bodies of three civil-rights workers are found. Killed by the KKK, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner had been working to register black voters in Mississippi (Aug.). -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X, black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is assassinated (Feb. 21). Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern black to vote. -
The Black Panthers
The Black Panthers are founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale (Oct.). It is a revolutionary liberation movement. -
Stokely Carmichael
Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), coins the phrase "black power" in a speech in Seattle. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKP5_qyGs8c) -
Black History Month
Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of blacks in U.S. history. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeZYjXNnT44) -
University
The Supreme Court supports the University of Michigan Law School's policy, ruling that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges when selecting their students because it furthers "a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body." -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama becomes the first African-American president and the country's 44th president.
