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Jan 1, 1526
Atlantic Slave Trade
The Atlantic Slave Trade lasted from the 16th until the 19th century. The trade consisted of the buying, selling, and transportation of African Slaves to the Americas. This was one of the three part economic system known as the Middle Passage of the Triangular trade. -
Chattel Slavery
The typical system of slavery where the slave has the legal status of property, and therefore can be bought and sold like property. Under Chattel Slavery, slaves had no personal rights and had no determination of what to do with their lives. -
Stono Rebellion
In 1739, over one hundred African Americans rose up, got weapons and killed several whites then tried to escape to Florida. The uprising was crushed and the participants executed but this inspired other slave rebellions later to come. -
Rev. Richard Allen
An African American preacher who helped develop the Free African Society and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. -
Black Christianity
African Americans, mainly throughout South, developed their own Christianity, which was often more emotional than whites and used Christian salvation to express dreams of Freedom. -
David Walker
African American activist who demanded the immediate end of slavery in the new nation. credit Walker for exerting a radicalizing influence on the abolitionist movements of his day and beyond. He has inspired many generations of Black leaders and activists of all backgrounds. -
New York Emancipation Act of 1799
The act allowed slavery in New York to continue until 1828 and freed slave children at the age of 25. Although there were still thousands of slaves enslaved in New York after the Act, this was a stepping stone to future abolition movements in the North. -
Elijah P. Lovejoy
Was an American Presbyterian minister and abolitionist. He was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Illinois in opposition to his abolitionism. -
William Lloyd Garrison
Garrison was a primary abolitionist leader, who published “The Liberator”, helped form the American Anti-Slavery Society, and favored Northern secession. -
American Colonization Society
System created in 1817 that sent African Americans back to Africa. The motives behind this society were to either free African Americans of the horrible conditions of slavery, or to simply eliminate the influence of African Americans of the U.S. -
Tallmadge Amendment
In 1819, Tallmadge proposed an amendment to the bill for Missouri's admission to the Union, which the House passed but the Senate blocked. The amendment would have prohibited the further introduction of slaves into Missouri and would have mandated the emancipation of slaves' children born after the state was admitted. -
Missouri Compromise
Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave state, therefore unbalancing the Union so there would be more slave states then free states. The compromise set it up so that Maine joined as a free state and Missouri joined as a slave state. Congress also made a line across the southern border of Missouri saying except for the state of Missouri, all states north of that line must be free states or states without slavery. This compromise was later discarded after the Dred Scott v Sanford case in 1857 -
Hiram Revels
Revels was the first African-American senator, elected in 1870 to the Mississippi seat previously occupied by Jefferson Davis. Born to free black parents in North Carolina, he worked as a minister throughout the South before entering politics. -
Nat Turner’s Revolt
slave revolt; he believed that he had been chosen by God to lead a slave rebellion, largest number of slaves involved 75, and they killed around 60 people. -
American Anti-Slavery Society
Abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison. Frederick Douglass was a key leader who often ran meetings. Was a major abolitionist movement during the pre-Civil War era. -
Gag rule in Congress
A procedure in the House of Representatives from 1836 to 1844 by which antislavery petitions were automatically tabled when they were received so that they could not become the subject of debate. -
Fugitive Slave Law
Part of the Compromise of 1850. Said that the North had to return any runaway slaves to their owners in the South. It was a stricter version of previous laws. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Anti-slavery book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was a very popular book in the north, helping spread the ideas of abolitionism and gain support for the north in what would become the civil war. -
Underground Railroad
System of helping runaway slaves escape to the north. They would move at night and stay at “stations,” or houses of those running the railroad, as they journeyed north. Led by Harriet Tubman. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford 1856
Supreme Court decision that ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. The Court ruled against slave Dred Scott, who claimed that travels with his master into free states and territories made him and his family free. The decision also denied the federal government the right to exclude slavery from the territories and declared that African Americans were not citizens. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
A series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln would face in the aftermath of his victory in the 1860 presidential election. Although Illinois was a free state, the main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery in the United States. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln's proclamation issued on January 1, 1863 that legally abolished slavery in all states that remained out of the Union. While the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave, it signaled an end to the institution of slavery. -
Black Codes
Laws passed by southern states after the Civil War that denied ex-slaves the civil rights enjoyed by whites, punished vague crimes such as vagrancy or failing to have a labor contract, and tried to force African Americans back to plantation labor systems that closely mirrored slavery. -
Freedmen’s Bureau
Government organization created to aid displaced blacks and other war refugees. Active until the early 1870s, it was the first federal agency in history that provided direct payments to assist those in poverty and to foster social welfare. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Legislation passed by Congress that nullified the Black Codes and affirmed that African Americans should have equal benefit of the law. -
Jim Crow
System of racial segregation in the South that lasted a century, from after the Civil War until the 1960s. -
14th Amendment
Said that everyone born in the United States was a citizen. Although it didn’t give African Americans full rights, it was a major step towards equality. Along with the thirteenth and fifteenth amendments, it showed post-Civil War America’s progress on abolition. -
W.E.B. DuBois
He was an civil rights activist. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. Du Bois and his supporters opposed the Atlanta compromise. Instead, Du Bois insisted on full civil rights and increased political representation, which he believed would be brought about by the African-American intellectual elite. He referred to this group as the Talented Tenth. -
Fifteenth Amendment
Said that the right to vote could not be denied based on race or color. It gave African American men the right to vote. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
United States federal law enacted during the Reconstruction Era to guarantee African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation, and to prohibit exclusion from jury service. Also known as the Enforcement Act or Force Act. -
U.S. v. Cruikshank
In 1876, the court decided in this case that a mob attack on blacks trying to vote did not violate the 14th amendment; the particular mob attack was the Colfax Massacre where Klan members murdered nearly 100 African-Americans in Colfax, Louisiana, on Easter Sunday 1873; 3 whites were convicted in this trial -
Lynchings
killing of blacks by white mobs because they were accused of committing crimes or because they had angered the whites, most were done secretly by small mobs. -
George Washington Carver
Washington both taught and exemplified the goal of self-help. He focused on industrial education. Washington gained national fame in 1895 with his Atlanta Compromise address. It was a move intended to show racial progress in the South. Washington, in turn, delivered an address that many interpreted as approving racial segregation. -
Civil Rights Cases (1883)
A series of 1883 Supreme Court decisions that struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, rolling back key Reconstruction laws and paving the way for later decisions that sanctioned segregation. -
Marcus Garvey
a Jamaican political leader, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a proponent of the Pan-Africanism movement, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). -
Williams v. Mississippi (1898)
Said that literacy and voter registration tests were not discrimination because everyone was required to take them. These restrictions served to lower African American voting turnouts by making it harder for them to vote, as they were often less educated that white Americans. -
Race Riots
A term for an attack on African Americans by white mobs, triggered by political conflicts, street altercations, or rumors of crime. In some cases, such “riots” were not spontaneous but planned in advance by a group of leaders seeking to enforce white supremacy -
Harlem Renaissance
The connection of African American culture to mainstream America. It showed that African Americans were beginning to be respected more, as their culture was taken seriously and became large parts of American pop culture. -
Jazz Music
Jazz was one of the main aspects of the Harlem Renaissance. It was a music genre started by African Americans that was quickly assimilated into mainstream culture. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was the more extreme counterpart to MLK. He also worked for the equality of African Americans, but often did so violently. He believed that his aggression would show whites that negotiating with King and the peaceful movement would be beneficial and easier for them. -
pan-Africanism
The idea that people of African descent, in all parts of the world, have a common heritage and destiny and should cooperate in political action. -
Martin Luther King, Jr.
MLK was the leader of the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. He led huge marches and made lots of progress for the movement. He was assassinated in 1963. Most well known Civil Rights activist in history. -
African Americans Under the New Deal
Most New Deal programs discriminated against blacks, as they gave whites priority. Some New Deal programs helped blacks. Until the New Deal, African Americans had primarily voted Republican, but after FDR, they started a shift toward Democratic. -
Executive Order 8802
Signed by Roosevelt to prevent discrimination in in the national defense industry. It was the first federal action to promote equal opportunity and prohibit employment discrimination in the United States. -
Congress of Racial Equality
CORE was a nonviolent civil rights organization founded in 1942, committed to gaining victory over fascism, and supported the Double V Campaign. The organization was effective and prevalent to the abolitionist movement throughout the Civil War era. -
Double V Campaign
The campaign was created by African Americans during WWII, emphasizing the need for double victory: in the war and also over racial prejudice in the United States. -
Executive Order 9981
Executive Order 9981 was an executive order issued on July 26, 1948, by President Harry S. Truman. It abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces and eventually led to the end of segregation in the services. -
African American opportunities in cities
More job opportunities arose as whites “fled” to the suburbs. Less racism than in the south, but were still discriminated against. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
Supreme Court ruling that overturned the “separate but equal” precedent established in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The Court declared that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal and thus violated the 14th amendment. -
Murder of Emmett Till
African American teenager lynched after being accused of flirting with a white woman. His killers were acquitted, drawing attention to the oppression of blacks in America. Happened around the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
One of the first significant events of the Civil Rights Movement. Dec 5, 1955 - Dec 20, 1956. Rosa Parks and MLK. Boycotted bus system because of segregation. Walked to work, often up to 10 miles a day. Powerful protest that gained public support. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
After the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders formed the SCLC in 1957 to coordinate civil rights activity in the South. -
Integration of Little Rock Central High School
First public school to enforce the ruling of Brown v Board of Education. Although the placement of 9 black students in a white school was progressive for the time, it created massive controversy around the United States. -
Nation of Islam
A religion founded in the United States that became a leading source of black nationalist thought in the 1960s. Black Muslims preached an apocalyptic brand of Islam, anticipating the day when Allah would banish the white “devils” and give the black nation justice. -
Black Nationalism
A major strain of African American thought that emphasized black racial pride and autonomy. Present in black communities for centuries, it periodically came to the fore, as in Marcus Garvey’s pan-Africanist movement in the early twentieth century and in various organizations in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
A student civil rights group under the mentorship of activist Ella Baker. SNCC initially embraced an interracial and nonhierarchical structure that encouraged leadership at grassroots level and practiced the civil disobedience principles of MLK Jr. As violence toward civil rights activists escalated nationwide in 1960s, SNCC expelled nonblack members and promoted “black power” and the teachings of Malcolm X. -
Greensboro Sit-Ins
The Greensboro Sit-ins were protests where 4 students from the NC Agricultural and Technical College sat down at whites only lunch counter. Once they were there, they refused to move. This was taken on by other African American supporters and led to more sit ins across the country. -
Freedom Rides
Freedom rides were organized mixed-race groups who rode interstate buses deep into the South to draw attention to racial segregation, beginning in 1961. This effort by the northern youth showed progress for the Civil Rights Movement. -
March on Washington
More than 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington, D.C., for a political rally known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Organized by a number of civil rights and religious groups, the event was designed to shed light on the political and social challenges African Americans continued to face across the country. Culminated with “I Have A Dream” speech. -
“I Have a Dream Speech”
Although other people did the planning, Martin Luther King Jr. was the public face of the march. It was King’s dramatic “I Have a Dream” speech, beginning with his admonition that too many black people lived “on a lonely island of poverty” and ending with the exclamation from a traditional black spiritual — “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!” — that captured the nation’s imagination. -
Bombing of a Baptist Church in Birmingham
On September 15, a bomb exploded before Sunday morning services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama–a church with a predominantly black congregation that served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. Four young girls were killed and many other people injured. Bomb was set by white supremacists -
Stokely Carmichael
He would eventually become active in the Black Power movement, first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party (BPP), and finally as a leader of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP). -
Freedom Summer
The Civil Rights Act was a law with real teeth, but it left untouched the obstacles to black voting rights. So protesters went back into the streets. In 1964, in what came to be known as Freedom Summer, black organizations mounted a major campaign in Mississippi. The effort drew several thousand volunteers from across the country. -
MFDP
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party: Party founded in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964. Its members attempted to attend the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as the legitimate representatives of their state, but Democratic leaders refused to recognize the party. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Law that responded to demands of the civil rights movement by making discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations illegal. It was the strongest such measure since Reconstruction and included a ban on sex discrimination in employment. -
Selma March
In March 1965, James Bevel of the SCLC called for a march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital, Montgomery, to protest the murder of a voting-rights activist. As soon as the six hundred marchers left Selma, crossing over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, mounted state troopers attacked them with tear gas and clubs. The scene was shown on national television that night, and the day became known as Bloody Sunday. -
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a federal agency that came about after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. It administers and enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Law passed during Lyndon Johnson’s administration that empowered the federal government to intervene to ensure minorities’ access to the voting booth. -
Black Power
Advocates of Black Power asked the questions: If alliances with whites were necessary to achieve racial justice, as King believed they were, did that make African Americans dependent on the good intentions of whites? If so, could black people trust those good intentions in the long run? Those inclined toward Black Power believed that African Americans should build economic and political power in their communities. Power would translate into a less dependent relationship with white America. -
Black Panther Party
A militant organization dedicated to protecting African Americans from police violence, founded in Oakland, California, in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. In the late 1960s the organization spread to other cities, where members undertook a wide range of community-organizing projects, but the Panthers’ radicalism and belief in armed self-defense resulted in violent clashes with police. -
Thurgood Marshall
He was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's 96th justice and its first African-American justice. -
Enforcement Acts
The Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 prohibited states from discriminating against voters, especially African American, and the president could utilize federal troops to protect these rights. -
Election of Barack Obama
First black president of the United States. Beat John McCain, later won re election over Mitt Romney.