HISTORY

(in progress)

BlackPast.org and Black History in America are fantastic Black History websites which include historical events as well as many notable Black figures. History.com and National Geographic also have Black History timelines.

Useful post: "Slavery Myths Debunked" - Slate

Learning about history can inform us about how the past has led to what we see today. There are also many Black figures who we were not taught about in school. The timeline below aims to shed light on Black history, lesser known major accomplishments by Black people, and some other key events.

History: Services

~200,000 YEARS AGO

Abundant Civilizations in Africa

Anatomically modern humans originated from sub-Saharan Africa roughly 200,000 years ago following the development of early hominids. Over time, complex societies and thousands of distinct ethnic groups with rich cultures developed across the continent (Britannica). North and West Africa developed sophisticated trade cities and trade routes (ThoughtCo). Some of the most influential African empires included Egypt, the Kingdom of Kush, the Land of Punt, Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksum, the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire, and the Great Zimbabwe (History).

~12,000 YEARS AGO

American Indians

American Indians began settling in the Western Hemisphere roughly 12,000 years ago. There were hundreds of different tribes and complex cities (Britannica). By the time Europeans arrived in the Americas, it is estimated that there were 50 million people living in the Americas in distinct regions each with an abundance of different cultures (History). The largest cities included Cahokia, where Illinois is today, and Chako Canyon of New Mexico which had huge multi-story buildings, the largest of the continent until skyscrapers in the 1800s (History).

1492

Europeans Arrive in Americas

Europeans, most notably Christopher Columbus, while searching for India, arrived at San Salvador Island inhabited by the Taino. Europeans brought diseases that killed thousands of American Indians (American Association for the Advancement of Science). Centuries of European intrusion, wars, and the spread of disease ultimately led to the demise of a majority of American Indian people (History). American Indians today continue to face significant discrimination and various inequities and injustices persisting from European conquest (Council on Foreign Nations).

1493, 1498, 1502

1492-2008

European Colonialism

Over the course of 500 years, Europeans invaded various places to steal wealth and resources to send back to Europe (Vox).

1500S -

Colonization, Genocide of Indigenous Peoples

The Spanish, British, French, and Dutch created settlements in North America as American Indians attempted to resist the encroachment (National Geographic). Europeans incited various forms of violence against indigenous people with the intention of destroying their communities. There were several wars, and in some cases, settlers were paid for killing indigenous people. The settlers were aware that their diseases were lethal and purposely gave blankets from smallpox patients to Native Americans specifically with the purpose of spreading the disease. Historians estimate that there were upwards of 10 million people living in the Americas but less than 300,000 by 1900 (Holocaust Museum Houston). History.com includes more information about on the slaughter of Native Americans.

1500-1800

Transatlantic Slave Trade

Europeans captured and bought African people as slaves and brought them to Europe, and later on to the Americas. Roughly 12 million enslaved people were shipped across the Atlantic (Experience Africa).

1526

First Recorded Slave Revolt

The Spanish brought enslaved African people to America where the Carolinas are now. In 1526, enslaved people revolted, and this was the first such recorded instance in North America (PBS).

1562 - 1807

Triangular Trade

Slave traders made massive profits from trading enslaved people to the Americas, shipping cotton, tobacco, and sugar to Europe, and finished goods to be sold in Africa (National Geographic).

1619

American Slavery Begins

The Portuguese captured about 20 people from Angola and brought them to be sold in the British colony of Virginia. The ship, White Lion, arrived on August 20, 1619. Some of the imprisoned Angolans were traded for food. Although they were sold as indentured servants, they were forced into servitude and were therefore enslaved per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is largely considered the beginning of slavery in what is now the US (History).

1619-1800S

Slave Labor and British Colonies

The economy of the British colonies and later the United States depended upon the labor of Africans and their descendants in North America (History). Enslaved Africans largely worked on plantations primarily along the southern coast from Maryland and Virginia to Georgia (History).

1641 - 1995

Legalization of Slavery

European colonists in New England legalized slavery with the Massachusetts Body of Liberties. Massachusetts was therefore the first state to legalize slavery. Mississippi was the last state to abolish slavery in 1995 (National Geographic). Prior to the 1641 legalization, some Africans were treated like indentured servants who were freed once their debt was paid. After the law, the institution of slavery was increasingly codified (Smithsonian).

1643

Fugitive Slave Laws

As early as 1643, colonies began passing fugitive slave laws. Through the Articles of the Confederation, runaway servants were required to be returned to their master or anyone with proof of purchase (Encyclopedia Virginia).

1652

First Anti-Slavery Statute

Rhode Island passed a statute that enslaved people could only be owned for 10 years. Rhode Island had the highest percentage of enslaved people in New England and was heavily reliant on slave labor. The statute was largely ignored and not enforced (Time). Enslavers got around the law by selling slaves they had for 10 years and buying new slaves (Smithsonian).

1654

African Americans Own Slaves

A Virginia court allowed Black people to purchase and own enslaved people. Black people who had the opportunity typically bought other people for personal reasons, namely to protect family members (National Geographic).

1662

Slavery by Birth, Sexual Abuse

Virginia adopted partus sequitur ventrem into law in 1662 such that any child of a Black enslaved woman, regardless of the father, was born enslaved. Enslaved women were often the victims of rape and sexual abuse. Those who resisted were injured and sometimes killed (Lumen Learning).

1676

Bacon's Rebellion

Nathaniel Bacon was upset that his cousin, Virginian Governor William Berkeley was trying to maintain relationships with neighboring tribes. Bacon alleged that a friendly tribe stole his corn, yet Berkeley still would not allow border expansion. Bacon enlisted enslaved people, black and white indentured servants, poor farmers, and also the Occaneechi to fight the Susquehannocks only to later slaughter the Occaneechi as well. The rebellion caused a realization that white indentured servants had too much power, so servitude shifted away from any white servants (National Geographic, History).

1688

Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery

In Germantown, Pennsylvania, slavery was widely accepted among Quakers. However a few of them wrote a petition against slavery on the basis of the Bible's Golden Rule. Although there was no immediate effect, this was the first American document to make a plea for equal human rights for all (National Park Service, Smithsonian).

1691-1967

Interracial Marriage Laws

In 1691, Virginia passed the first anti-miscegenation law. This law made it illegal for a white person to marry someone who was not white. Other colonies and states had their own such laws until all anti-miscegenation laws were overturned in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia (National Geographic).

1704

First Slave Patrols

One of the first forms of police were the slave patrols of the south, the first one being established in South Carolina in 1704. Slave patrols chased people who ran away from their masters. The patrols were a form of organized terror used to scare enslaved people from revolting. After the Civil War, southern police departments kept certain tactics and other facets from slave patrols (National Law Enforcement Museum).

1705

Virginia Slave Codes

In 1705, Virginia passed a slave code which stated "All servants imported and brought into the Country...who were not Christians in their native Country...shall be accounted and be slaves. All [N-word], mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion...shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resist his master...correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction...the master shall be free of all punishment...as if such accident never happened." Additionally, enslaved people no longer got trials against their masters. Enslaved people could be found guilty of murder or rape and be hanged. Other claimed offenses resulted in lashings, cutting off of ears, whipping, branding, and maiming (PBS).

1712

New York Slave Rebellion of 1712

Unlike in southern plantations where enslaved people were largely isolated, enslaved people in NYC were able to communicate and organize an insurrection against their captors. During the revolt, nine white enslavers were killed, and 27 enslaved people were captured. Some committed suicide to avoid facing trial. Most of the rest were sentenced to brutal public executions such as being burned alive, hung, crushed by a wheel, or starved to death. The captors kept a pregnant woman alive until she gave birth at which point they executed her. This rebellion led to harsher slave laws (Smithsonian Magazine, Encyclopaedia Britannica).

1738-1820

Freedom and Fort Mose, Florida

In 1738, any male enslaved by an English plantation who escaped to Spanish Florida was given freedom under the condition that he became Catholic and joined the militia. The people who escaped slavery, mostly from the Carolinas, lived at Fort Mose. In 1740, The English sent thousands of soldiers to attack St. Augustine and Fort Mose. The Black, American Indian, and white people who lived there were largely outnumbered but eventually fought off the English allowing Florida to remain a haven for people who escaped British colonial slavery for years (Black Past).

1739

Stono Rebellion

The Stono Rebellion was the largest uprising by enslaved people in the British mainland colonies before the American Revolution. A group of enslaved people met at Stono River and headed south towards St. Augustine where they could be free. They called out for liberty, recruited more Black people, burned houses, killed white opponents, but spared a white innkeeper who was 'kind to his slaves.' By the end, about twenty white people were killed, and almost twice as many Black people were killed. Afterwards, white lawmakers paused the import of African people and created a harsher slave code. 250 insurrections by enslaved people in the United States have been documented (Library of Congress).

1758

Quakers and Abolition

Quakers increasingly shifted their views on slavery. In 1758, Quakers prohibited members from buying and selling enslaved people and encouraged people to give those they enslaved freedom (PBS).

1770

Crispus Attucks and the American Revolution

Crispus Attucks was born into slavery but became a skilled trader from a young age. He freed himself by escaping to Boston where he continued to utilize his trading talents. At the beginning of the American Revolution, a fight between angry Bostonians and British troops broke out which is now known as the Boston Massacre. Ultimately Attucks was the first person shot by the British and is considered the first casualty of the American Revolution (Biography).

1773

Phillis Wheatley, First Black Woman to Publish a Book of Poems

Phillis Wheatley was born in Gambia, Africa but was kidnapped by slave traders and brought to America on a ship after which she was named. The Wheatley family realized that Phillis was talented and allowed her to learn to read a write. She wrote poems on various topics from the age of 14. In 1773, she published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral and became the first Black person and second woman to publish a book of poems in America (National Women's History Museum).

1775-1783

American Revolution

During the American Revolution, tens of thousands of Black people served and fought for independence from Great Britain. Black soldiers in the Continental Army represented all 13 colonies and served in all the major battles. After the war, only about a fifth of them were freed for their service (U.S. Army Reserve).

1777

Vermont Bans Slavery...

Vermont became the first colony to abolish slavery and also allowed African American men to have full voting rights. Even so, the wording of the declaration was too vague to stop existing slavery to continue. Though Vermont and other colonies that banned slavery wrote legal restrictions which made it "difficult for 'free' blacks to find work, own property or even remain in the state." Connecticut pushed Black people out of the state by preventing Black land ownership and disallowing them to enter businesses without consent from a proprietor (Smithsonian).

1778-1781

1st Rhode Island Regiment

Most Black people served in integrated units. However, the 1st Rhode Island Regiment was the first all-Black military unit. They gained fame for defeating three British assaults for four hours straight in the battle of Rhode Island. In doing so, they saved the entire American Army from a British trap. They also contributed to to victory at Yorktown. While the white soldiers were paid for their service, the Black soldiers did not receive compensation for their service. Americans such as Henry Laurens noticed the irony that enslaved Black people fought for independence yet were not free (U.S. Army Reserve).

1781

Elizabeth Freeman Sues for Freedom

Elizabeth Freeman, born as Mum Bett, was the first African American woman to successfully sue for freedom. Bett likely overheard her master, Colonel Ashley, discuss the Sheffield Declaration which was based on the US Declaration of Independence and decided to fight for her freedom. She and an enslaved man named Brom worked with an attorney who argued that the Massachusetts Constitution outlawed slavery. Bett and Brom gained freedom, and Bett changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman. Colonel Ashley tried to enslave her again as well and also asked her several times to be his paid servant which she denied (National Women's History Museum).

1783

Perseverance Benevolent & Mutual Aid Association

African American skilled craftsmen in New Orleans, LA formed the Perseverance Benevolent & Mutual Aid Association, a community support club. Similar social aid and pleasure clubs formed later on. Today, these clubs are known for community outreach. One of the most well-known social aid and pleasure clubs today is Zulu which also participates in the Mardi Gras parade (NOLA.com).

1787

Northwest Ordinance

Congress created the Northwest Ordinance to establish order for the Northwest Territory and thereby allowed more states to be added to the Union. The ordinance protected civil liberties and disallowed slavery except for as punishment for a crime. However enslaved people who came from the original states were to be returned (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Under the ordinance, enslavers could still bring people they enslaved to the area (National Geographic).

1787

Prince Hall Founds Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons of Boston

Prince Hall was a prominent figure in Boston of the revolutionary period. He was born enslaved but became free and joined a mason lodge with fourteen other African Americans. Hall and the other Black men later formed their own mason lodge, and Hall was the Grand Master. He used this leadership position to speak out about slavery, the rights of Black people, and mob violence against Black people. He also formed a school for Black children in his own home after protesting the lack of such schools (PBS).

1788

Constitution, Fugitive Slave Clause, Three-Fifths Compromise

Article IV Section II Clause III of the Constitution was the Fugitive Slave Clause which permitted enslavers to reclaim people they had or claimed to have enslaved even if they had reached a free state (Cornell Law School). The Three-Fifths Compromise apportioned representation in the House of Representatives by counting all free people and three-fifths of all people who were not free. Slaveholding states were therefore overrepresented in national politics (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

1790

Naturalization Act

The Naturalization Act of 1790 specified that only free white people from outside of the US were guaranteed citizenship upon taking an oath and meeting criteria (DocsTeach). Black and other non-white people were denied citizenship for being born or naturalized in the US until 1868 with the ratification of the 14th Amendment (History).

1791

Benjamin Banneker

At this time, Black people were considered incapable of accomplishment in areas such as literature, science, and mathematics (PBS). Benjamin Banneker taught himself astronomy by observing the stars as well as advanced mathematics by reading textbooks. Banneker gained attention when he created perhaps the first clock in America, and he made it entirely from wood. He later made astronomical calculations and accurately predicted a solar eclipse long in advance, contradicting the predictions of more well-known astronomers and mathematicians. He sent his first almanac which included information on medicines, tides, astronomy, and more along with a letter about abolishing slavery to Thomas Jefferson who endorsed his accomplishments (Library of Congress).

1795-1820

Second Great Awakening

In this period, for the first time, enslaved African people turned to Christianity in large numbers (National Geographic). The Second Great Awakening reshaped the way Americans worshiped and preached as well as inspired social reform because of the emphasis on spiritual equality. This concept of inherent equality and the language in the Declaration of Independence led Black people to form their own churches, most notably the African Methodist Episcopal Church. These churches and their constituents were driven by the ideas of freedom and equality, and as such, they were leaders in delivering enslaved people to freedom, some with a non-violent approach and some pushing for rebellion (PBS).

1800

Gabriel's Rebellion

Gabriel was born into slavery in Virginia and was taught to read and write. Because of his notable intelligence and his tall stature, he was seen as a leader among other enslaved people. Gabriel was allowed to hire himself out through which he met other enslaved people, free Black people, and white workers. He learned about the rhetoric of the American Revolution and the uprising in Saint Domingue. Gabriel thought that if enslaved people were to revolt, poor white people would join, so he crafted a plan where the motto would be "Death or Liberty" as in Saint Domingue. He and others gathered soldiers with the intention to take over Norfolk and Petersburg by the residents. A bad storm postponed the revolt, but word got around to white people who sent out patrols and militia to capture rebels for trial. 26 enslaved people were hung including Gabriel, and Virginia gave the enslaers of the executed $8,900 or about $180,000 in today's money as reimbursement for lost property (PBS).

1801

Enslaved Population

In 1801, the US population was 5,308,000, and there were about 900,000 enslaved people such that over one in six people were enslaved (PBS).

1803

Louisiana Purchase, Toussaint L'Overture

Napoleon decided to sell Louisiana Territory to the United States after becoming frustrated due to an enslaved person's rebellion in Haiti, led by Toussaint L'Overture. This purchase almost doubled the size of the country, and encompassed the enslaved inhabitants into the United States' political and economic system. However, other cities such as New Orleans grew to include a strong community of free African Americans (BlackPast.org).

1804

Haitian Revolution and Independence

For a period beginning in 1791, enslaved people fought English and French colonizers due to the brutality of enslavers and eventually won independence from France. Haiti became the first country founded by formerly enslaved people. Haiti officially declared independence on January 1, 1804, although the island was largely destroyed as a result of the war (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

1804

The Underground Railroad Gains Steam

The Underground Railroad referred to an organized effort by free Black and white people who helped to harbor and transport freedom seekers (racetimeplace.com). Although such liberation efforts already existed, the organized elements which characterize the Underground Railroad began with a Quaker family who used their ferry to help freedom seekers cross the Susquehanna River. Once a bridge was built, African American entrepreneur William Whipper documented how he helped hundreds by providing shelter and food since his house was at the end of the bridge (National Geographic). Some historians believe 100,000 some freedom seekers achieved freedom through the Underground Railroad, although the enslaved population of the south was about 4 million at the time (Scholastic).

1807

Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves

Thomas Jefferson, who held very contradictory views on slavery and its morality and legality, signed into law a strict ban on the importation of people for the purpose of enslavement. This law did not stop slavery. The law also did not prevent importation as trade went underground due to the heavy penalties. Ships that were caught illegally trading were typically brought to America anyways, and the people on board were still sold into slavery (DocsTeach).

1807-1857

Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave

In New York, Solomon was born free, received some education, and worked on his father's farm which was large enough for voting rights. Solomon married Anne Hampton, and they worked various jobs to support their children. Northup had a reputation as a talented fiddler. In 1841, two men claimed that they were part of a circus and offered him money for fiddling. The men drugged him and shipped him to New Orleans where he was enslaved for 12 years. Northup tried to escape, but it wasn't until an abolitionist carpenter visited and alerted people in New York. The rescue was widely publicized. Once Northup was free again, he wrote the memoir Twelve Years a Slave about his kidnapping, his kind and cruel enslaers, and other experiences (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

1819

Canada Means Freedom

In 1819, the Attorney General of Upper Canada established that residence in Canada entailed freedom (National Geographic). When America asked if enslavers could follow freedom seekers and take them back, they were denied such that any freedom seeker who crossed the border was guaranteed freedom (PBS).

1820-1913

Harriet Tubman

Harriet had eight siblings, but eventually slavery separated them. When she was 5, she was rented out as a nursemaid and whipped whenever the baby cried which left her permanently physically and emotionally scarred. At 12, she saw an overseer about to throw something heavy at an enslaved person, so she stepped in front and got hit such that her skull broke and caused her brain problems for life. After a bad marriage, Harriet escaped to freedom. She proceeded to go back to get family members. The 1850 Fugitive Slave Act greatly endangered her efforts, but nonetheless she established her own Underground Railroad network and brought at least 70 to freedom, verbally instructing many more on how to do so. In the Civil War, she helped fugitives and ill soldiers and also became a head spy for the Union Army. In her later years, she remained philanthropic and formed the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Colored People. She also worked with suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony (History).

1820

Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise added Missouri to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. This was done to maintain the power balance in Congress between free and slave states. Additionally, the law banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory above the 36° 30' latitude line except for Missouri (Library of Congress).

1822

Denmark Vesey Conspiracy

This was an alleged planned uprising organized by free man and Methodist pastor Denmark Vesey in Charleston, NC. He galvanized over 1,000 enslaved and free African Americans to strike back against the white folx in after they outlawed the African Church. They planned on taking over the city and killing all of the white people. When one of the enslaved people told his master that this was happening, Vesey and 36 others were hanged. Vesey became a martyr and inspiration for Black political communities, including the first ever all-Black infantry led by Frederick Douglass (BlackPast.org).

1822

Liberia is Founded for Freed People

As abolition gained more support, the American Colonization Society looked to the Grain Coast of Africa as a place for freed people to live. The local African chiefs allowed the society to have Cape Mesurado. The society led the first freed Americans back to Africa. White American Jehudi Ashmun arrived soon after and founded Liberia (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

1823

Alexander Lucius Twilight, First Graduate, First State Legislator

Alexander Lucius Twilight was born in Corinth, Vermont where his was the first Black family there. He was multiracial and had very light skin. He learned reading, math, and writing while also working on a farm. He saved enough money for grammar school and then Middlebury College where he earned a bachelor's degree that made him the first African American to graduate from university. He worked in ministry and education, became a grammar school principal, and was eventually elected to the Vermont General Assembly which made him the first African American to serve in a state legislature (Black History in America).

1826-1827

Underground Railroad's "Grand Central Station"

The Coffin family moved to Newport, Indiana, now known as Fountain City. They realized that freedom seekers frequently came through town on their journey to freedom. Levi Coffin disagreed with "human laws" which contradicted the law of God and decided to build a new home right on highway 27 in order to house freedom seekers. Over time, the Coffins helped at least 2,000 people by providing a doctor, food, clothing, and shelter. Sometimes freedom seekers had traveled some 25 to 30 miles through dangerous territory, sometimes without shoes, before arriving at the Coffin house. Nearby families served as lookouts to let the Coffins know if there were bounty hunters or other trouble since it was so high risk (Little Indiana).

1829

Mexico Abolishes Slavery

In 1829, Mexico, which at the time included Texas, abolished slavery. This triggered white enslavers to fight for independence in the Texas Revolution which resulted in the formation of the Republic of Texas and with it, the re-legalization of slavery there. Texas later joined the Union as a slave state. Mexico was also involved in the Underground Railroad. It is estimated that at least 5,000 to 10,000 freedom seekers made it to Mexico. However the stakes were high as getting caught meant being killed and lynched (History).

1829

David Walker's Radical Appeal

David Walker was born free in North Carolina since his mother was free though his father was enslaved. In Charleston, South Carolina, he owned a successful secondhand clothing store but disliked that, though the free Black population was sizable there, they were discriminated against, couldn't serve on juries, and their children had to go to inferior schools. He later joined the racism and slavery opposing Massachusetts General Colored Association. He wrote speeches and articles before writing his infamous appeal (Biography). The Appeal... to Colored People... was perhaps the most radical anti-slavery document of all time, and a bounty was put out for his death (PBS). Walker passionately denounced slavery using the Bible and Declaration of Independence (Biography). He called for enslaved people to revolt and even kill their masters (PBS). This document changed the abolition movement and inspired many (Biography).

1831

Underground Railroad is Named

The Underground Railroad had already been running as seen by when in 1786, George Washington complained that one of the people he enslaved had escaped him with the help of a "society of Quakers, formed for such purposes." In 1831, the name Underground Railroad came about since steam railroads were rising at that time. Vocabulary such as conductor, stations, depots, among other terms were used. African American conductors would sometimes pretend to be enslaved and then lead freedom seekers out of plantations. People would have to travel over 10 to 20 miles between stations. Donations were used for transportation and clothing since tattered clothing was suspicious (PBS).

1831

Maria W. Stewart, Powerful Orator

Maria W. Stewart was an orator born free in Connecticut. She was orphaned and had to be a clergyman's servant. She learned by reading books and later went to Sabbath schools. After her husband died, she dedicated herself to God's service and became a political activist (Encyclopedia). In 1831, she wrote Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, a controversial pamphlet which encouraged Black people to rebel against slavery in the south and racial restrictions in the north. She was the first known women to publicly lecture on political issues which she gave to audiences at the New England Slavery Society, the African Masonic Hall, and elsewhere. She was also radical with feminism and demanded that women be part of every aspect of life and get more involved in civil rights. Her ideas were a foundation for the Civil Rights Movement and women's movement as noted by Sojourner Truth and Fredrick Douglass (Biography).

1847

Anti-Literacy Laws in Missouri

White people feared rebellion by enslaved people who wanted to be free. This fear drove the 1847 law in Missouri which stated "No person shall keep or teach any school for the instruction of [N-word] or mulattos, in reading or writing, in this State." This law made white people feel more secure in preserving the institution of slavery, however the people they enslaved did not want freedom any less due to their ban on any sort of literacy. Those who violated the law would be fined $500, which is about $15,000 today, or be sentenced to six months in jail or both (Missouri Office of the Secretary of State).

1857

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Dred Scott was born enslaved by Peter Blow. After Blow died, Dr. John Emerson purchased Scott and brought him to Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory where Scott married Harriet Robinson. Emerson brought them to Louisiana where he met his wife Irene Sanford. They moved back to Wisconsin. Emerson died, and Sanford became the enslaver and refused to let them free. In 1846, Scott and Robinson then filed separate lawsuits for freedom based on the Missouri statutes which state that people of color could sue for wrongful enslavement and that a person taken to a free territory was automatically free. In 1847, the court ruled against them but allowed retrial in 1850 in which they won their freedom. However Sanford put them back into slavery with an appeal in 1852. In 1853, Scott filed an unsuccessful federal lawsuit. Scott appealed the case, which had amassed significant attention and support from powerful abolitionist politicians and attorneys. In 1857, the Dred Scott decision ruled against Scott again. However Peter Blow's son bought Scott and freed him and his family. Scott died of Tuberculosis the next year (History).

1863

Emancipation Proclamation

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which would take effect on the first day of the new year. It declared all enslaved people residing in areas currently in rebellion against the US to be "thenceforward, and forever free" (Emancipation Proclamation). While this was a remarkable and joyous occasion, it is important to remember a few things. First, not all enslaved people were freed by this Proclamation, just those who happened to be living in Confederate states. Any slave residing in a state or territory that remained loyal to the Union would have to wait months or even years for freedom. Second, Abraham Lincoln was not always in favor of abolishing slavery. While he was personally against the concept, he claimed that the US government did not have the authority to overturn slavery. Emancipation eventually became a political strategy to preserve the Union, because as Lincoln wrote in August of 1862: “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not either to save or to destroy slavery" (History).

1865

Juneteenth

Althought the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 formally decreed all enslaved persons residing in former Confederate territories free, actual freedom for many did not come until a few years later. During the Civil war, the state of Texas was separated from both Union and Confederate troops and became a place where Southern enslavers hid their slaves to prevent them from receiving any knowledge of freedom. It was not until July 19th, 1865 that a Union General's proclamation informed the people of Texas that "all slaves are free!" Although the news spread gradually throughout the state, newly freed African Americans decided on July 19th as their emacipation day (BlackPast.org).

1865

Ku Klux Klan Forms

Following the Civil War, many Confederate veterans were angry with the entrance into post-Civil War Reconstruction and the dissolution of the Southern "way of life" that consisted on exlpoiting enslaved African Americans for their economic gain. A group of these white individuals formed a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, creating the first branch of what would become the Ku Klux Klan. These branches then coalesced to form the "Invisible Empire of the South," commiting violent and murderous acts against Black people as well as Republican officials in order to reverse these new Reconstruction orders and uphold white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan (or the KKK) fell out of prominence in the early 1870s following an expansion of federal control over the South. However, in 1915, white supremacists near Atlanta, Georgia were inspired by the glorification of the old South presented in D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (History)

1868

The Camilla Massacre

During the first few years of Reconstruction, 33 Black legislators were elected to the Georgia State Assembly, known as the "Original 33." However, afterwards, their white colleagues plotted to remove them, as well as any mixed-rate members of the State Congress. Later that same year, every one of the "Original 33" were recalled. One of these members, Philip Joiner, subsequently recruited nearly 300 Black and white men to protest this unlawful expulsion. During their march through Camilla to the courthouse, they carried legal firearms, but the Mitchell County Sheriff ordered them to surrender their weapons. When they did not, both police and local white people fired at them, killing 15 and wounding over 40 of the protestors. In the weeks following the massacre, local white men hunted down their Black neighbors, assaulting them as well as issuing death threats if they were to vote in the next election (BlackPast.org)

1919

"Red Summer"

The "Red Summer" of 1919 was a period of heightened white supramacy and a period of signifiacnt racial violence. During the aftermath of World War I, race relations intensified as Black soldiers returned back home and the effects of the Great Migration surged as more Black Americans moved into Northern cities to escape Jim Crow laws in the South. Additionally, white soldiers who had vacated their jobs during the War angered when Black workers filled them. All of this was viewed as a threat to many white Americans, who wanted their Black counterparts to return to a system of discrimination. Membership in the Ku Klux Klan grew to over 1 million. Racially-motivated murders of Black people both by the KKK and ordinary white people surged. However, the Black community did not submit and surrender to this violence; they aggressively fought back, inspiring protests years later as well as the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s (National WWI Museum and Memorial).

1920

Duluth Lynchings

In Duluth, Minnesota on June 14, 1920, the John Robinson Circus visited and hired local African Americans to help work the event. The day of the circus, two white townspeople, Irene Tusken and James Sullivan, claimed that they were help up at gunpoint by three of the Black workers and that Irene was raped by them. Upon hearing word of this supposed incident, the Duluth police lined up all of the Black circus workers for identification and Irene chose 6 of them. They were subsequently jailed. A few days later, an angry White mob descended on this jail, rounded up three of the accused (Elmer Clayton, Isaac McGhie, and Elmer Jackson) held a mock trial which found them all guilty, and subsequently lynched them. A few days after the incident at the circus, Irene Tusken was brought to the doctor to check for marks of assault, and none were found (BlackPast.org)

1921

Tulsa Massacre

Also known as the Tulsa Race Riots, this massacre occured in a wealthy Black district of Tulsa, Oklahoma known as Greenwood, or "Black Wall Street" (Tulsa HIstorical Society and Museum). The morning prior, one of Greenwood's Black residents, Dick Rowland, was seen leaving an elevator of a building as a white woman screamed. While there was no concrete evidence, white people in Tulsa believed Rowland had assaulted this woman and he was subsequently arrested. Word subsequently spread throughout the city, and that night a crowd of both white and Black locals congregated outside of where Rowland was being held. One white man attempted to disarm a Black man, and his gun went off. Violence erupted and "Black Wall Street" was pillaged and burned. Black men were detained and imprisoned by the National Guard, and it is estimated that up to 250 were killed. Despite these deaths, as well as the horrific damage the city endured as a result of this racial violence, this historical event is still being hushed up, and is rarely taught in Oklahoma history books (BlackPast.org).

1941-1946

Tuskegee Airmen

The Tuskagee Airmen made up the first Black fighter pilot unit in the United States. They were established in World War II after pressure from Black activists as well as Elenanor Roosevelt permitted African Americans to be trained as pilots, albeit separate from their white counterparts. Because they had to be trained separately, they were isolated on a field in Tuskagee Institute in Alabama. Despite this segregation and all of the discrimination they faced from white commanders, throughout the war, 992 Black pilots successfully completed the Army Air Corps and formed an all-Black squadron. They were hugely successful in protecting Allied bombers and have been lauded for both their contribution to the war and their contribution to the efforts of desegregation of the United States army (BlackPast.org).

1955

Emmett Till is Lynched

Emmett Till was born in 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. The summer of his 14th year, his mother, Mamie Till, sent him to visit his great-uncle and cousins in Money, Mississippi. Mamie Till warned her son of the customs of the South, but having not experienced it himself, 14-year old Emmett did not fully understand "the legacy of lynching" that reigned. One afternoon, as Emmett and his cousins were leaving a grocery store, witnesses reported that Emmett had whistled at the white female clerk. That night, the clerk's husband and his half-brother broke into Emmett's great-uncle's cabin, took Emmett, and lynched him. They beat him, slashed his eye, tied a noose around his neck, shot him in the head, and threw his mutilated body in the Tallahatchie River. Once the body was recovered, Mamie Till held an open casket funeral for Emmett, wanting "the world to see what they had done to [her] son." Thousands and thousands of mourners came by to pay their respects, and when the two white murderers were acquitted in their trial, the lynching of Emmett Till became a major inspiration for the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s (BlackPast.org).

1956

The Clinton Twelve

After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that outlawed school segregation, Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee, was forced to desegragate during the 1956-1957 school year. In order to ensure integration,12 Black students (known as the Clinton Twelve) registered to join formerly all-white Clinton High. This act sparked months of outrage and violence from white segregationists in Clinton, and many of the Twelve and their families received death threats and actual gunfire. Despite all of this, these Black students remained at the school, and in May of that year, one of the Twelve, Bobby Cain, became the first African American to graduate from a Southern court-desegregated high school. This was a major victory in the long campaign of school desegregation throughout the United States (BlackPast.org).

1961

Manumission Law

In 1961, Virginia passed a manumission law. Manumission is the act of freeing a an enslaved person. The law required that the newly freed person had to leave the colony, and the former master had to pay for the trip out. Thus it was financially disincentivized for masters to free the people they enslaved (National Geographic).

1964

Rice Kingdom

In 1964, rice was introduced to South Carolina, later dubbed the "Rice Kingdom," one of the first colonies deliberately founded on a slave-labor based economy. So many people were shipped from Africa and enslaved to be rice cultivating that by 1720, 65% of South Carolina's population was slaves. Rice planters needed the African people they enslaved in order to reap their large profits because growing rice is very labor intensive, and Africans had technical expertise from growing rice back in Africa that plantation owners did not (Lumen Learning).

1966

Seattle School Boycott

On Thursday, March 31 and Friday, April 1, over 3,000 Seattle public school students boycotted their normal classes to attend 2 Freedom schools set up to teach classes on racial inequality and African American history. This boycott was the result of de facto segregation in the public school system, where the majority of Black students attended 13 very under funded schools with undertrained teachers. The protestors proposed certain amendments to the school system such as closing certain schools and ensuring Black and white children be educated together. The Seattle School Board fulfilled many of thesee propositions as the result of the boycotts (BlackPast.org).

1966

Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 by two Oakland college students, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, as a means to protest police violence against Black people, and sparked by the assasination of Malcolm X the year prior (History). The Black Panther Party (or the BPP) had a trifold ideology: Black nationalism, socialism, and armed defense. In contemporary White America, The BPP is often given a bad rap and their willingness to counteract police violence with violence of their own is often contrasted with the comfort many White people feel towards Martin Luther King's peaceful protests (we often forget that MLK himself was also a socialist). Because of White America's instinctual fear towards the BPP, we often forget all of the important measures they took towards helping the Black community. These include starting a free breakfast program for American low-income children, researching sickle-cell anemia (a disease often affecting those of African descent) and providing free legal aid to the Black community often wronged by the criminal justice system (National Archives).