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Eastern Theatre
Eastern Theatre in 1861 and 1862, the confederact stopped union attempts to capture its capital in Richmond, Virginia. -
Emancipation Proclomation
Document that legally freed slaves -
Massachusetts Regiment
First Northern black unit, the fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, was organized. -
Freedman's Bureau
Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, and establishes the Freedmen's Bureau to assist former slaves. This is the beginning of the Reconstruction era. -
Black Codes
All-white legislatures in the former Confederate states pass the so-called "Black Codes," sharply curtailing African Americans' freedom and virtually re-enslaving them. -
Hiram Revels
Revels was elected by a vote of 81 to 15 in the Mississippi State Senate to finish the term of one of the state's two seats in the US Senate left vacant since the Civil War. -
Colfax Massacre
Armed Blacks surround the county seat in Colfax, Louisiana, fearing whites will illegally overthrow the Republican government. About 150 African Americans are killed in the so-called Colfax Massacre. -
Poll Tax
Texas, Alabama, Virginia, Missisippi, all passed poll tax to stop black from voing -
National Afro- American League
Preceding the foundation of the NAACP, the organization dedicated itself to racial solidarity and self-help created by Thomas Timothy Fortune. -
First Open Heart Sugery
The First successful open heart surgery was done by african american Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. The patient recovered 51 dats later and lived for another 50 years. -
Atlanta Compromise
African American Booker T. Washington gives his "Atlanta Compromise" speech at the Cotton Exposition in Georgia, saying that African Americans should focus on economic advancement rather than political change. -
Carver Accepts Appointment
World-famous African American agricultural researcher George Washington Carver accepts an appointment at the Tuskegee Institute. Carver's research in farming techniques helps to revolutionize farming in America. -
Plessy V. Ferguson
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregated, or "separate but equal," public facilities for whites and blackAfrican-AmericanAfrican Americans are legal. The ruling stands until 1954. These are also known as the "Jim Crow" laws. -
A Trip to Coon Town
Robert "Bob" Cole produces "A Trip to Coontown," the first full-length musical written, directed, performed, and produced by African Americans, on Broadway. -
Grandfather Clause
Louisiana tries to disenfranchise its African Americans by passing a "grandfather clause" limiting the right to vote to anyone whose fathers and grandfathers were qualified on January 1, 1867. (No African Americans had the right to vote at that time.) -
First Self-Made Millionaire
Sarah Breedlove MacWilliams, better known as Madam C. J. Walker, starts an African American hair-care business in Denver and eventually becomes America's first self-made woman millionaire -
The Chicago Defender
Robert S. Abbott begins publishing The Chicago Defender, Chicago's first African American newspaper. Within a decade, it is one of the country's most influential African American weekly papers. -
NAACP
Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination -
North Pole
Black explorer Matthew Henson reaches the North Pole along with Admiral Robert Peary. They are the first men known to have reached the North Pole. -
National Urban League
The National Urban League is founded to help the many African Americans who are migrating to the cities find jobs and housing. -
James Robert Craig
My Great Granpa was born. (Layman) -
Harriet Marie Mikkelsen Craig
My Great Grandma was born. (Layman) -
Fifth Avenue March
Organized by the NAACP, thousands of African Americans march down New York City's Fifth Avenue to protest racial violence and discrimination. -
Red Summer
Race riots across the country leave at least 100 people dead. These are again sparked by white resentment of African Americans working in industry, and their large-scale migration from South to North. -
Lillian Agnes Picard Burnett
My Great Granma was born. (Layman) -
Frank E. Burnett Sr.
My Great Grandpa Frank was born. (Layman) -
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
Phillip Randolph organizes the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful African American trade union. -
Scottsboro Boys
Nine African American youths are accused of raping two white women, and tried for their lives and quickly convicted in Scottsboro, Alabama. The "Scottsboro Boys" case attracts national attention and will help fuel the civil rights movement. -
1936 Summer Olympics
Track-and-field athlete Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in the Berlin Olympics, thwarting Adolf Hitler's plan to use the games to demonstrate "Aryan supremacy." -
Tuskegee Airmen
Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., becomes the first African American general in the U.S. Army. -
WWII
The first training program for African American pilots is established at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The Tuskegee Airmen serve heroically in World War II. -
Congress of Racial Equality
The interracial Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is formed in Chicago. It will become famous for organizing the Freedom Rides of 1961. -
Lonnie Ray Burnett
My Grandpa was born. (Layman) -
Gail Elaine Craig Burnett
My Grandma was born. (Layman) -
Brown v. B.O.E
In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court rules unanimously against school segregation, overturning its 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white person, triggering a successful, year-long African American boycott of the bus system. -
Bus Segregation Unconstitutional
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the segregation of Montgomery, Ala., buses is unconstitutional. -
SCLC
Martin Luther King, Jr., helps found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to work for full equality for African Americans. -
Little Rock Nine
For the first time since Reconstruction, the federal government uses the military to uphold African Americans' civil rights, as soldiers escort nine African American students to desegregate a school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daisy Bates, an NAACP leader, advised and assisted the students and eventually had a state holiday dedicated to her -
I have a Dream Speech
More than 200,000 people march on Washington, D.C., in the largest civil rights demonstration ever; Martin Luther King, Jr., gives his "I Have a Dream" speech. -
Birmingham Church Bombing
Four African American girls are killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. -
SNCC, CORE, and NAACP
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), CORE and the NAACP and other civil-rights groups organize a massive African American voter registration drive in Mississippi known as "Freedom Summer." Three CORE civil rights workers are murdered. In the five years following Freedom Summer, black voter registration in Mississippi will rise from a mere 7 percent to 67 percent. -
Noble Peace Prize Winner
Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. -
Voting Rights Act
In the wake of the Selma-Montgomery March, the Voting Rights Act is passed, outlawing the practices used in the South to disenfranchise African American voters -
Edward Brooke
Edward W. Brooke becomes the first African American U.S. Senator since Reconstruction. He serves two terms as a Republican from Massachusetts. -
King Assassinated
Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His murder sparks a week of rioting across the country. -
Equal Opportunity Employment Act
The Equal Employment Opportunity Act is passed, prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of, among other things, race, and laying the groundwork for affirmative action. -
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman to be elected to Congress. -
The Equal Employment Opportunity Act
The Equal Employment Opportunity Act is passed, prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of, among other things, race, and laying the groundwork for affirmative action. -
California v. Bakke
In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court rules against universities using fixed racial quotas in making admissions decisions, a challenge to affirmative action. -
Michael Jackson
Singer Michael Jackson's album Thriller becomes one of the best-selling albums of all time. -
General Colin Powell
General Colin L. Powell is the first African American to be named chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military. -
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey, the first African American woman to host a nationally syndicated (and wildly popular) talk show, founds Harpo Productions to produce her own movies and TV shows. In 2000, Forbes magazine will estimate Winfrey's earnings at $150 million. -
Oj Simpson
Former football player O.J. Simpson is charged with the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman. He will be acquitted in 1995 after a hugely controversial trial.
