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Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave owners and free men of the North. It required that all escaped slaves when captured were to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law. -
Clotel; or, The Presidnet's Daughter
Clotel; or, The President's Daughter is a novel written in 1853 by black author and playwright William Wells Brown about Clotel and her sister, fictional slave daughters of Thomas Jefferson. Set in the early 19th century, it is known as the first novel published by an African American. -
American Civil War
The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865. Seven Southern slave states individually declared their withdrawl from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America, known as the "Confederacy" or the "South". Even though they claimesd a total of 13 states and some western territories, the "Confederacy" or "South" was never recognized by a foreign country. -
Emancipation Proclimation
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, as a war measure during the American Civil War. This was directed towards all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the Executive branch. It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the eleven states that were still in rebellion, excluding areas controlled by the Union. Therefor applying to 3 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. -
Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on the citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Recognition Amendments. -
Exodusters
Exodusters was a name given to African Americans who migrated to places along the Mississippi River to Kansas in the late nineteenth century. It was the first general migration of blacks following the Civil War. (This event did not occur on a specific day) -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson is a landmark United States Supreme Court case upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal." -
Teachers Put to Work
Since the Civil war, 30,000 African american teachers had been trained an put to work in the South. The majority of blacks had become literate. -
Negro National League
The Negro National League (NNL) was one of the several Negro leagues which were established during the period in the United States in which organized baseball was segregated. -
Shuffle Along
Shuffle Along is an African-American musical revue with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and a connecting plot about a mayoral race, written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. -
Black History Month Founded
Black History Month is founded by Professor Carter Woodson's Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama, the first African American president takes office.
