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4300 BCE
Nimrod Ruler of Babel??
Son of Cush the founder and king of the first empire to come into existence after the Flood. He distinguished himself as a mighty hunter. He was against God, building the Tower of Babel. Therefore God confused the people's language causing them to leave off building the tower, divide into groups and spread through out the earth taking cultural artifacts with them. -
3000 BCE
The Scorpion King
He was one of Egypt's earliest ruler. A legendary Egyptian warrior who ruled in the fourth millennium b.c.e. He is known for consolidating the lands that would become ancient Egypt. -
2686 BCE
The Kingdom of Egypt
They developed the worlds first writing. Writing allowed them to communicate, organize and document their history. The presence of Nubia, Egypt’s great neighbor to the south, provided a wealth of mutually beneficial, willingly provided services to the great pharaonic power during its most expansive period. For example, throughout all phases of recorded Egyptian history, Nubian warriors served in the pharaoh’s army, especially as archers. -
2500 BCE
Ancient Kingdom of Kush--Kerma/The Nubian Kingdom
Nubia, located in southern Egypt and northern Sudan, is believed to have been the genesis of African culture and has basked in its 7,000 years of rich history and unmatched accomplishments. From 2500 B.C. all the way to the present, Nubia has witnessed the evolution of man’s intelligence, constant warring with the Persians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans and Arabs, to the suppression of their culture, language and history. -
1943 BCE
Judaism
Hebrew /Jewish religious system which sprang Christianity and Islam. They worshiped YHWH or JHVH Hebrew letters יהוה. Scholars date the beginning of the religion of the Israelites to their forefather in faith, Abraham, whose life is generally dated to circa 1666 B.C.E., the tenth generation from Noah through Shem. Abraham made a covenant with God to blessed mankind by means of his seed. -
747 BCE
Nubian Pharaohs - Kashta the Kushite and Piye
Kasha was the first Nubian Pharaoh and Piye was the next to rule. Piye invaded Egypt in the 8th century BCE and reunited fragments Egypt under their rule. Kush and Egypt was under their rule.The Kushite emperors ruled as pharaohs of the 25 dynasty of Egypt for a century until they were expelled by the Assyrians. -
247 BCE
Hannibal Barca 247 – between 183 and 181 BCE
A Punic military commander from Carthage, generally considered one of the greatest military commanders in history. One of his most famous achievements was at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when he marched an army which included war elephants from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into Italy. The empire extended over much of the coast of North Hammatic Africa as well as encompassing substantial parts of coastal Iberia and the islands of the western Mediterranean. -
33
Christianity
A religion that is based on the teachings and commands of Jesus Christ and the belief that he was the son of God. Jesus practiced Judaism up until sacrificial death. According to scripture his death broke the covenant between the Jews and opened up salvation to the whole world. -
300
Griots
A West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet and/or musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition and is often seen as a societal leader due to his traditional position as an advisor to royal personages. "The griot has to know many traditional songs without error, he must also have the ability to extemporize on current events, chance incidents and the passing scene. The griot legacy stretches back for hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of years. -
300
The Kingdom of Ghana 300 - 1200
The name Ghana means both “warrior king” and “king of gold.”
The Sonninkes, the founders of the empire, belonged to a larger language group called the Mande. They excelled in the use and manufacture of iron had the advantage of superior weapons, quickly dominated surrounding nations. A rich person or king might have had an advisor/historian called a griot that related his stories in the forms of storytelling, music, poetry, drama, and dance. -
610
Islam
Born in Mecca, in western Arabia, Muhammad (ca. 570–632), last in the line of Judeo-Christian prophets, received his first revelation in 610. Muslims believe that the word of God was revealed to him by the archangel Gabriel in Arabic, who said, “Recite in the name of thy Lord …” (Sura 96). These revelations were subsequently collected and codified as the Qur’an (literally “recitation” in Arabic), the Muslim holy book. Muhammad’s message was an allegiance to one god, Allah. -
988
The University of Sankore, Timbuktu
A wealthy Mandinka lady financed Sankore University making it the leading centre of education. The Sankore University prospered and became a very significant seat of learning in the Muslim world, especially under the reign of Mansa Musa (1307-1332) and the Askia Dynasty (1493-1591). They taught Qur'anic and Islamic studies, law, literature, medicine, surgery, astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, philosophy, language, linguistics, geography, history and art. -
1230
The Kingdom of Mali 1230 - 1400
The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1400. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I. The Mali Empire had many profound cultural influences on West Africa, allowing the spread of its language, laws and customs along the Niger River. It extended over a large area and consisted of numerous vassal kingdoms and provinces -
1307
Mansa Musa
Mali’s king named Mansa Musa ruled from 1307-1332. The word Mansa refers to king, emperor, chief, or sultan. He is often referred to as “the Black Moses.” Mansa Musa encouraged knowledge and the teachings of the Islamic inviting Arab scholars to come to Mali and study. Timbuktu, became a center of learning for scholars throughout the Muslim world in Africa. When Mansa Musa went on his pilgrimage to Mecca he gave away so much gold that its value dropped because there was so much of it! -
1450
The Transatlantic Slave Trade 1499 - 1888
The first system of globalization. The trade proceeded in three steps. The ships left Western Europe for Africa loaded with goods which were to be exchanged for slaves. The second step was the crossing of the Atlantic. Africans were transported to America to be sold throughout the continent. The third step connected America to Europe. The slave traders brought back mostly agricultural products, produced by the slaves. -
1464
The Kingdom of Songhay 1464 - 1591 CE.
The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city of Gao, where a Songhai state had existed since the 11th century. Songhai grew rich like Ghana and Mali by controlling trade routes across the Sahara. -
1513
Juan Garrido - born in West Africa around 1480
Africans arrived in North America more than a century before both the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. A free man, Juan Garrido,the first black conquistador, in 1513, joined de León’s well-known expedition to Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth, when he became the first known African to arrive in this country. He claimed to have been “the first to plant and harvest wheat” in the New World. Next year Florida will commemorate the 500th year anniversary of his arrival. -
Queen Anna Nzinga 1583 – December 17, 1663
Queen Nzinga (Nzinga Mbande), the monarch of the Mbundu people, was a resilient leader who fought against the Portuguese and their expanding slave trade in Central Africa. She became renowned for the guerilla tactics she employed for resisting the technologically superior Portugese army. She was a brilliant strategist and, although past sixty, led her warriors herself inspiring the successful 20th Century armed resistance against the Portuguese that resulted in independent Angola in 1975. -
The First Africans Taken to a North America English Colony
They were 20 slaves who came to Jamestown Virginia. A Portuguese slave ship from Angola, in Southwest Africa was seized by British pirates on the high seas and brought to Virginia after a period of time in the Caribbean. They joined Indentured servants from England, common in the settlement, now close to 1,000 people strong. The slaves represented one ethnic group,were Christians and were called Negros. They brought with them their drums and the tradition of call and response. -
Crispus Attucks
Crispus Attucks and several other patriots from Boston protested the British curbing of civil liberties in their Massachusetts colony.
During a scuffle with British soldiers, Attucks and several others were shot and killed. Although independence had not yet been officially declared, many consider Attucks the first American casualty of the Revolutionary War. -
American Revolution 1775-1783
Thousands of black Soldiers, both slaves as well as free, from all 13 colonies fought in the Continental Army during America’s war for independence from Great Britain. Many also served in state militias.
Black Soldiers served in every major battle of the war, mostly in integrated units. A notable exception was America’s first all-black unit, the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. -
Sierra Leone
In 1787 the British Crown founded a settlement in Sierra Leone in what was called the "Province of Freedom". It intended to resettle some of the "Black Poor of London," mostly African Americans freed by the British during the war. A second and permanent settlement was established as Freetown on 11 March 1792. During the 19th century, freed black Americans, Americo Liberian 'refugees', and Jamaican Maroons, also settled in Freetown. creating a new creole ethnicity called the Krio people. -
SHAKA ZULU 1787 – 1828 South Africa
Shaka designed a more potent weapon by taking his assegai and transforming it into a heavy bladed spear point with a short handle designed for thrusting instead of throwing. Shaka named this new weapon an iklwa. This curious named was chosen as it mimicked the sound it made when the iklwa was thrust into the enemy’s body. This new weapon became the standard weapon used by the growing Zulu armies. Shaka eventually became the new Zulu chieftain growing the his kingdom into a large empire. -
Haitian Revolution (1791-1804)
A slave rebellion led Haitie to become the first Black republic in the history of the world.. Their first revolt leader, Boukman, was also a Voodoo leader. Toussaint L'Ouverture took over command as the new rebel leader when Boukman was killed by the French. He recruited mulattoes as well as slaves to fight in an impressive army.
He was a skilled military strategist who taught his forces guerrilla warfare. This strategy was extremely effective in battles with the French. -
Congo Square
On Sundays it was the place where slaves could be Africans again. The drum, triangle, a jawbone,and early ancestors to the banjo. Dances included the “Flat-Footed-Shuffle” and the ”Bamboula.”. Catholicism’s acceptance of a variety of saints and spirits was a major factor in the religion’s ability to both embrace and assimilate African spirituality. -
Juba dance/ Hambone
American style of dance that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks. "Pattin' Juba" would be used to keep time for other dances during a walk around. Originally from West Africa, it became an African-American plantation dance that was performed by slaves during their gatherings when no rhythm instruments were allowed. The sounds were also used just as Yoruba and Haitian talking drums were used to communicate. -
George Bonga 1802 - 1880
A fur trader born of an African American, Pierre Bonga and an Ojibwa woman. He was one of the first African Americans born in Minnesota. From Canada his grandfather, Jean Bonga, an African slave, or free servant to an English captain was brought to the Great Lakes in the 18th century. Today, most of Bonga's known descendants are Ojibwe. Source link Bongas and Bongos to the Bruns, Jourdains and many other names found today in the Minnesota and Wisconsin Ojibwa communities. -
Louisiana Slave Rebellion
The 1804 Haitian revolution victory inspired slaves around the colonies to rebel. Led by Charles Deslondes a mulatto with access to priveledge, maroon rebels and battle-hardened warriors from Ghana and Angola marched in formation and in uniform with cavalry support to take control of New Orleans and establish a black state. -
Vicente Guerrero (the second president of the Republic of Mexico)
Guerrero was born in 1783 in a town near Acapulco called Tixtla by Costa Chica, the traditional home of the Afro-Mexican community in Mexico. Guerrero he fought for Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1810, under another black man, General José María Morelos. On September 16, 1829 — Mexico’s Independence Day — As president Guerrero abolished slavery throughout the country which was part of the reason that Texans fought to secede from Mexico a few years later, in 1836; remember the Alamo? -
Minstrel Shows
Racist entertainment performed Whites in black face. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that mocked people specifically Blacks. Shows conformed to negative stereotypes associated with black Americans. -
John Horse and the Black Seminoles 1835-1838
The first black/maroons rebels and Seminole Indians to beat American slavery and leaders of the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history. The uprising peaked in 1836 when hundreds of slaves fled their plantations to join the rebel forces in the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). At the heights of the revolt, at least 385 slaves fought alongside the black and Indian Seminole allies, helping them destroy more than twenty-one sugar plantations in central Florida. -
Liberia
In the United States, there was a movement to resettle American free blacks and freed slaves in Africa. In 1822 African-American volunteers establish a colony for freed African-Americans leading to the declaration of independence of the Republic of Liberia. Between January 7, 1822 and the American Civil War, freed and free-born Black Americans from United States and Afro-Caribbeans relocated to the settlement. The Black American settlers carried their culture with them to Liberia. -
The Dred Scott Decision
Scott had been born into slavery in 1795. In subsequent years, he lived in two parts of the United States that didn’t allow slavery, Illinois and Wisconsin, along with his master.
When his current master died in 1846, Scott filed suit on behalf of himself and his wife, also a slave, to gain their freedom. The Court decided slaves are not citizens of the United States and have no rights to sue in federal courts, and in fact, blacks couldn’t be citizens. -
Darwinism - Natural Selection to Evolution
Charles Darwin wrote the book, Origin of Species, arguing the idea of the evolution of new species from earlier ones. Writing, “At some future period, . . . the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races.” Writers used natural selection to argue for various, often contradictory, ideologies such as laissez-faire dog-eat dog,survival of the fittest, capitalism, racism, warfare, colonialism and imperialism. -
Spirituals
the spirituals are the Southern sacred "folk" songs created and first sung by African Americans during slavery. Their original composers are unknown, and they have assumed a position of collective ownership by the whole community. They lend themselves easily to communal singing. Many are in a call-and-response structure, with back-and-forth exchanges between the leader and the group. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot;" "Go Down, Moses;" "Wade in the Water;" -
Cake Walk
The Cakewalk was a competitive dance developed in the late 19th century, generally at get-togethers on black slave plantations as slaves made fun of White dancers. The best dancers won a cake. originated in Florida, where it is said that the Negroes borrowed the idea of it from the war dances of the Seminole. Cakewalk music incorporated polyrhythm, syncopation, and the hambone rhythm into the regular march rhythm. -
Civil War 1861 - 1865
The war between the North and the South lasted from April 12, 1861 - May 9 1865 with the North as the victor. -
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." -
Freedman
When slavery ended in 1865, slaves and free blacks were generally called "Freedman". This name simply meant that they were no longer slaves and were now free. Black people accepted the designation. The federal government also accepted this designation establishing the Freedman's Bureau. The Bureau aided refugees and freedmen by furnishing supplies and medical services, it established schools, and did other things to assist the former slaves in making the transition from slavery to freedom. -
Black Codes
In the United States, the Black Codes were laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after the Civil War. These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt. For instance, many states required blacks to sign yearly labor contracts; if they refused, they risked being arrested as vagrants and fined or forced into unpaid labor. -
Buffalo Soldiers
Originally were members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army. This nickname was given to the "Negro Cavalry" by the Native American tribes they fought in the Indian Wars. The term eventually became synonymous with all of the African American regiments formed in 1866. -
Black Cowboys
One in four of America’s cowboys were African-American. Many of the slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries were familiar with cattle herding from their homelands of West Africa. Some black cowboys took up careers as rodeo performers, gunfighters, outlaws, cattle drivers or were hired as federal peace officers in Indian Territory.
William Pickett one of the most outstanding Wild West rodeo performers in the country is credited with originating the modern event known as bulldogging. -
14th Amendment
Granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” -
15th Amendment
granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." In response, African Americans were subjected to poll taxes, literacy tests and other means to prevent them from voting. -
Mardi Gras Music
The music of the Mardi Gras are a huge part of New Orleans' cultural identity, evolving since the mid-1700s. Brass bands performed at New Orleans funerals to accompany the departed and the bereaved to the cemetery, playing mournful music. On the way back from the cemetery, however, the music becomes more celebratory until what began as a funeral is transformed into a party. For example, The Saints Go Marching In popularized by Louis Armstrong. The song has been called the anthem of New Orleans -
End of Reconstruction
The North and the South came to a compromise resulting in Federal troops withdrawing from the South leaving African Americans unprotected. -
Jim Crow Laws
After the Civil War states passed anti-Black legislation. These became known as Jim Crow laws.They separated blacks and whites in churches, schools, housing, jobs, public transportation,sports recreation, hospitals, orphanages, prisons, asylums, funeral homes, morgues, and cemeteries.
White actor Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice propelled to stardom for performing minstrel routines as the fictional “Jim Crow,” a caricature of a clumsy, dimwitted black slave. -
Convict Leasing
A loophole in the 13th amendment allowed White Southerners to re-enslave African Americans by convicting them of felonies and renting them out to private companies. States made new laws criminalizing Black life while turning misdemeanor offenses into felony offenses. -
Criminalizing African Americans
More and more African Americans are being arrested and convicted of felonies. The relationship between criminology and race is cemented into people’s minds. The public reason that African Americans are a criminal race because there are so many of them in prison. -
Colored
Those who had never been enslaved searched for a name of their own while the white press referred to them as "colored" people. Many black newspapers resented this designation, especially since the white press refused to capitalize the word. Many in the black press offered a different name, that of "Afro-American." In the end "Colored" won out. Dr. James Haney -
Debt Slavery and Peonage
African Americans were made to work and held captive until their debt was paid off. African Americans were falsely accused and quickly convicted. They were sentenced and charged fines and court fees which they couldn’t pay. Local Whites paid the court and took control of them. After they were bought from the court they were resold for profit. -
Gospel
Gospel developed from spirituals and Blues in the Northern urban churches. Africans combined their spirituality, drums and call and response with English religion and music conventions of music to develop Gospel. The first known recording sounded like a barbershop quartet by the Dinwiddie Colored Quartet, Gabriel's Trumpet. -
Blues
Developed from field hollers and work songs of the slaves and sharecroppers. Blues music had been around long before it was so called discovered. W.C. Handy is credited with discovering the Blues in Tutwiler Mississippi. He encountered a blues guitarist at the Tutwiler train station set him on his way to earning the title “Father of the Blues” as a pioneer in publishing the blues in sheet music form. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” ranks among the most-recorded songs of all time, in any genre. -
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - NAACP
Formed By W.E.B. Du Bois,Moorfieldo Storey and Mary White Ovington. This group fought for African Americans by way of litigation declaring Jim Crow Laws, violence in the form of lynching, disenfranchisement, discrediting and disrespect of Black people’s basic humanity is a force that hold African Americans down. -
Chain Gangs and Sharecropping
States and counties lease prisoners to work on state projects like fixing roads. Often the prisoners are tied together with chains. Sharecroppers agree to work a lot of land for a share of the profit but because of manipulation by the landowner they stayed in debt and was held on the land until the debt was paid off but the debt was design to be impossible to pay off. -
Jazz
Combining African drums with European horns Jazz originated from African American communities of New Orleans. Jazz developed over a span of time bringing many different cultures together. The blues, vocal and instrumental, was and is a vital component of jazz.
Louis Armstrong is considered one of the pivotal musicians in jazz for his contributions as a trumpet player, composer and singer. From 1920 to 1933 Prohibition, resulting in illicit speakeasies became lively venues of the "Jazz Age" -
WW1 1914 - 1918
World War I marked the beginning of the Great Migration. Traveling world wide broaden African Americans social, political, geographic and cultural view. They introduce Blues and Jazz to other parts of the world. -
The Great Migration 1916 - 1970
To escape oppression 6 million African Americans from the rural South bringing their music and culture moved to the cities of the North, Midwest and West. However upon arrival they discovered the North instituted segregation and adopted the Jim Crow practices of the South. In the North Black families were relegated to living in crowded ghettos and being subjected to rioting Whites. -
Chicago Race Riot of 1919 July 27 - August 3
An African-American teenager drowned in Lake Michigan after violating the unofficial segregation of Chicago’s beaches and being stoned by a group of white youths. The police’s refusal to arrest the white man whom eyewitnesses identified as causing it, sparked a week of rioting between black and white Chicagoans. When the riots ended on August 3, 15 whites and 23 blacks had been killed and 500 people injured; 1,000 black families had lost their homes when they were torched by rioters. -
Harlem Renaissance
As African Americans were escaping the harsh realities of the Jim Crow South and settled down into the Northern cities working factory jobs, Harlem New York became the focal point for the development of Black culture. Jazz was the sound tract. Musicians, poets and writers were only a few of the main characters. The arts were one way African Americans created opportunity for themselves outside of the White community. The world took notice. -
Prohibition 1920 - 1933
The introduction of Prohibition in 1920 brings jazz into gangster-run nightclubs, the venues that serve alcohol and hire black musicians. These speakeasies allow whites and blacks to mingle socially for the first time. Bootlegging was one of the few professions in the 1920s that were open to all races. Wendell Scott, an illegal moonshine whiskey runner became the first African American NASCAR driver. -
Negro
Colored was the preferred term for black Americans until WEB DuBois, following the lead of Booker T. Washington, advocated for a switch to Negro in the 1920s. -
Black Wall Street Tulsa Oklahoma Race Riot
Whites attacked the black community of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Greenwood District, the wealthiest black community in the United States, was burned to the ground. Over the course of 16 hours, more than 800 people were admitted to local white hospitals with injuries, the two black hospitals were burned down. An estimated 10,000 blacks were left homeless, and 35 city blocks were destroyed by fire, resulting in over $26 million in damages. The official count of the dead range from 39 to 300. -
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics
Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner this U.S. Treasury Department was the father of the war on marijuana, fully embraced racism as a tool to demonize marijuana. His primary targets were Billie Holiday and African American musicians. -
Chicago Black Renaissance 1930 -1940
A creative movement that blossomed out of the Chicago Black Belt on the city's South Side and spanned the 1930s and 1940s before a transformation in art and culture in the mid-1950s through the turn of the century. African-American writers, artists, and community leaders began promoting racial pride and a new black consciousness. -
WWII 1939 - 1941
The Military was segregated to the point of Jim Crow laws demanding separating of the races and preferential treatment of Whites and the White enemy over African Americans. -
Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit
Written by a white, Jewish high school teacher from the Bronx and a member of the Communist Party, Abel Meeropol wrote it as a protest poem, exposing American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. It was rare for a Black woman to sing such a protest song publicly. Lady Day was ordered by the authorities to stop singing this song. She refused.
Her harassment by Harry’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics began the next day -
Hitler Bans Swing and Jazz Music
One of the first books with the word "jazz" in the title originates from Germany. The Nazi regime pursued and banned the broadcasting of jazz on German radio, partly because of its African roots and because many of the active jazz musicians were of Jewish origin; and partly due to the music's certain themes of individuality and freedom. For the Nazis, jazz was an especially threatening form of expression. -
Bebop
Dizzy Gillesspie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clark, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Christian, Don Byas, Milt Hinton, Lou Williams, Mary Lou Williams, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, were adventurous and dissatisfied jazz musicians because the soul of Jazz music was lost in Big Band Swing music. To prevent the same thing from happening to Be Bop they made music so fast and technically demanding that it was difficult to understand and nearly impossible to copy. -
Rhythm and Blues/Race Records
Rhythm and Blues also known as Race Records is basically fast Blues music with more solo instruments and a variety of distinct sounds played by a group in larger venues. The themes of the music become more urban and relatable to a larger audience. -
Circular No. 3591 - Ending Neo-Slavery
Circular No. 3591 was a directive from Attorney General Francis Biddle to all United States attorneys concerning the procedure for handling cases relating to involuntary servitude, slavery and peonage. It was considered part of the war effort. -
Rock 'N' Roll "The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock 'N' Roll"
Evolved from Race Records / R & B (mix of rhythm and blues and country music, primarily) characterized by electronically amplified instrumentation, a heavily accented beat, and relatively simple phrase structure. To make it more marketable to White teenagers it was called Rock N Roll. The phrase “rock and roll” , meaning sex or music was relatively well known among Black Americans. The term got its biggest global boost through a Cleveland, Ohio disk jockey named Alan Freed. -
Korean War 1950-1953
In the Fight against Communism new opportunities began to emerge for black Soldiers while serving in the Korean War. In October 1951, the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment, which had served during the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and the beginning of the Korean War, was disbanded. This eliminated the last lingering formal practice of segregation in the Army. -
Paul Robeson ( April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976)
An American bass singer and actor who became involved with the Civil Rights Movement. At Rutgers College, he was an outstanding football player, then had an international career in singing, with a distinctive, powerful, deep bass voice, as well as acting in theater and movies. His advocacy of anti-imperialism, affiliation with communism, and criticism of the United States government caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Ill health forced him into retirement from his career. -
Cicero Race Riot
In early June 1951, Mrs. DeRose, who owned an apartment building at 6139–42 W. 19th Street in Cicero, Illinois. She rented an apartment to Harvey E. Clark Jr., an African-American World War II veteran and graduate of Fisk University, and his family in an all-white neighborhood. A mob of 4,000 whites attacked the apartment building. Women carried stones from a nearby rock pile to bombard Clark's windows. Another tossed firebrands onto the window and onto the rooftop burning the building down. -
COINTELPRO
The FBI began COINTELPRO—short for Counterintelligence Program—in 1956 to disrupt the activities of the Communist Party of the United States. In the 1960s, it was expanded to include a number of other domestic groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Black Panther Party. All COINTELPRO operations were ended in 1971. -
Motown
Motown Records changed the face of popular music in the 1960s. Founded by Berry Gordy, Jr., in Detroit, Michigan, Motown brought Black popular music into the mainstream. It was wildly popular. Though the songs were not overtly political, Motown’s popularity contributed to the Civil Rights Movement by achieving crossover success. Thanks to its popularity, African-American songs and faces entered the homes of every American in the country, regardless of race. -
Civil Rights Act
Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public. -
Voting Rights Act
Prohibits racial discrimination in voting. Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act secured voting rights for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. -
Black
Stokely Carmichael and Willie Ricks, both from SNCC, coined the phrase black power at a 1966 rally in Mississippi. Until then, Negro was how most black Americans described themselves. James Brown helped to build pride in young people with his song, “Say it Loud I’m Black and I’m Proud.” -
Hip Hop
Hip Hop or Rap music is a music genre formed in the United States in the 1970s. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling, and beatboxing. The Sugarhill Gang's 1979 song "Rapper's Delight" is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain widespread popularity in the mainstream. -
The War on Drugs
President Richard Nixon declared that the number 1 enemy of the United States was drug abuse. He increase the size of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and pushed through mandatory sentencing and no knock warrants. As a result the prison population increased and African Americans was sent to State prison for drug offenses at a rate of 13% more than other races. -
African American
By the early 1980s, the term "African-American" was becoming much more widely used, such that it was now the preferred terminology. Jesse Jackson collaborated with Ramona Edelin and others and made the push to use the term Afr-i-can Amer-i-can. Johnny Duncan, when he created the term, defined African Americans as "the children of the descendants of the African Diaspora who inhabit the Americas", not just the United States. -
Iran Contra Scandal 1985 - 1987
President Ronald Reagan's administration supplied weapons to Iran a sworn enemy in hopes of releasing American hostages held in Lebanon by Hezbollah. The U.S. took million of dollars from the sells of weapons that they made from Iran and rerouted the money and weapons to the Right Wing Contra Gorillas in Nicaragua. All the while the Reagan's administration looked the other way while the Contras funneled unprecedented amounts of drugs into the United States leading to the "Crack Epidemic". -
Gangster Rap
The beginning of the crack epidemic coincided the rise of Gangster Rap. Black and Hispanic communities in the mid-1980s, heavily influencing the evolution of hardcore gangsta rap as both crack and hip hop became the two leading fundamentals of urban street culture. The black community also experienced a 20%–100% increase in fetal death rates, low birth-weight babies, weapons arrests, and children in foster care. In 1996 60% of inmates incarcerated in the US were sentenced on drug charges. -
The Prison Industrial Complex
"The Prison Industrial Complex" is the title of a recorded 1997 speech by social activist Angela Davis. The prison -industrial complex is a system situated at the intersection of government and private interest. It uses prisons as a solution to social, political, and economic problems. It includes human rights violations, the death penalty, slave labor, policing, courts, the media, political prisoners and the elimination of dissent. -
High School for Recording Arts
High School for Recording Arts (HSRA) is a public charter high school located in the Midway neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded by David TC Ellis, CEO of Studio 4 and former rapper for Prince and the New Power Generation, the school pioneered the concept of connecting with at-risk students through a hip-hop music program, hence the nickname "Hip-Hop High." The school opened in 1996 as a pilot program for at-risk students with interest in a music career. -
President Barack Obama (Assumed office January 20, 2009)
Born August 4, 196, Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician serving as the 44th President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born outside of the continental United States. -
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The Urban Music Project - African American History
African Slaves were stripped of their language and cultural artifacts but they held on to their cultural expressions; dance, music and religion. To understand the modern African American one must study these intangibles; their history explains their music and their music explains the history. The Urban Music Project combines them both teaching social consciousness and self-determination.
