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Period: Jan 1, 1528 to
European Explorers bring slaves to the Americas
A Moroccan slave that arrived in Florida in 1528 became the first known African American and the first known American Muslim. But by the time European Explorers began to colonize the New World in 15th and 16th centuries - slavery was already an everyday thing in Africa. -
Cotton gin is invented in the U.S.
The cotton gin is a machine, invented by Eli Whitney, that was made to seperate cottonseed from the cotton fiber - a job that took a lot of time and effort (slaves did it by hand). Eli did not make a profit from the cotton gin, and the gin resulted in a huge growth in slave demands. -
Slavery ends in Great Britain
The Slavery Abolition Act ended slavery throughout the British Empire. The Act was also repealed in 1998. -
The Amistad Case
"The Amistad" was a Spanish ship that was transporting African slaves to a Cuban colony, but was taken over by the slaves who killed the cook and the captain of the ship. The slaves ended up in the U.S. and the party was brough to court. The President said that the slaves were not property, so they couldn't be owned - and let them return to Africa. -
Slavery ends in France
Under Napoleon, slavery was reinstated in the colonies of France where his troops were. However, in 1848 slavery was finally abolished in all of France and French territories and possessions. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of bills that were ment to resolve the territorial and slavery problems and controversies that came up from the Mexican-American War. There were 5 laws which balanced the interests of the slave states of the South of Missouri and the free states to the north. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act reinforced the previous law that gave policemen the right to seize and return to bondage slaves who had fled to free territory. -
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The Civil War in the U.S.A.
After decades of tension before 1861, the North and the South finally started war after the election of the anti-slavery Abraham Lincoln. The war went on for four years, resulting in victory of the Union (the North), which later lead to the end of slavery. -
Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in the U.S.
Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and freed the slaves. -
Slavery ends in the United States
When the Civil War ended and Lincoln was assassinated - the 13th Amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States. -
U.S. ratifies 13th Amendment to the Constituion
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution declared that "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". This Amendment formally abolished slavory in the U.S. -
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Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow Laws were basically the laws that seperated blacks from whites & kept people seperated by colors. -
Brown vs. Board of Education - U.S. Supreme Court case
Before the Brown vs. Board of Education is a U.S. Supreme Court case, black and white people had to go to different schools. The Brown vs. Board of Education case declared that that was unconstitutional. -
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Civil Right movement for African Americans in the U.S.
The Civil Rights movement for African Americans was ment to stop racial discrimination and let black people do the same things as white pople and have the same rights (vote, etc.) -
Murder of Emmett Till
Emmett Till was a 14-year old African American boy who was "flirting" with a 21-year old married white woman. Later, the woman's husband & his half-brother arrived at Till's house and murdered him. Emmett was found in the Tallahatchie River, with a 70-pound cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire. -
The Freedom Riders Movement
In the 1950s and 60s black people were supposed to ride in the back of busses and they were also supposed to give up seats to white people. Freedom Riders were activists who rode interstate buses like the Greyhound in 1961 to see what the states would do about it (see Boyton vs. Virginia case). Later, the Kennedys called for a "cooling off period", stating that the Freedom Riders' behavior was unpatriotic. -
Martin Luther King Jr. assassination
Martin Luther King Jr. Was an activist and a hero in the Civil Rights movement. He was killed in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 39. -
Last country in the world to ban slavery (Mauritania)
Mauritania is a small country in West Africa that was the last one in the world to abolish slavery. An estimated 20% of the population lived in slavery.
