Early American Discrimination Timeline

  • Massacre at Mystic

    The first defeat of the Pequot people by the English in the Pequot War
  • The Scalp Act

    Anyone who brought in a male scalp above age of 12 would be given 150 pieces of eight or the equivalent of $150. For females above age of 12 or males under the age of 12, they would be paid $130.
  • The 3/5ths Compromise

    It determined that three out of every five slaves were counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation.
  • Slave Trade Ends in the United States

    the "Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves" took effect in 1808.
  • Battle of Tippecanoe

    The defeat at Tippecanoe prompted Tecumseh to ally his remaining forces with Great Britain during the War of 1812, where they would play an integral role in the British military success in the Great Lakes region in the coming years.
  • The Missouri Compromise

    An Act to authorize the people of the Missouri territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and to prohibit slavery in certain territories.
  • Indian Removal Act

    Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy.
  • Trail of Tears

    The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government
  • Nat Turner Rebellion

    Nat Turner's rebellion was one of the largest slave rebellions ever to take place in the United States, and it played an important role in the development of antebellum slave society.
  • The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law

    The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers.
  • Dred Scott Decision

    The United States Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional.
  • Emancipation Proclamation

    Freed the slaves
  • 13th Amendment

    "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
  • 14th Amendment

    The 14th amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,”
  • 15th Amendment

    Granted the right to African American men to vote
  • Battle of Little Bighorn

    The battle was a momentary victory for the Lakota and Cheyenne. The death of Custer and his troops became a rallying point for the United States to increase their efforts to force native peoples onto reservation lands.
  • Battle of Wounded Knee

    The Wounded Knee Massacre, also known as the Battle of Wounded Knee, was a massacre of nearly three hundred Lakota people by soldiers of the United States Army.
  • Plessy vs. Ferguson

    Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal".