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First African Americans brought to the New World as slaves.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery In 1619 a dutch ship brought 20 Africans to Jamestown Virginia to work in the U.S on plantations( mostly working in tobacco fields and rice fields). The Slaves worked out so well that millions of slaves were imported for centuries after. They only took the healthiest strongest men and women they could find to ensure work was done quickly and well depriving Africa of the work needed to be done there. -
Thomas Paine's Abolitionist essay.
https://www.constitution.org/tp/afri.htm Thomas Paine wrote an anti slavery essay. While Paine wasn’t the first to write about abolition and he certainly wasn’t the first to have the thought but he was the most influential at the time. He felt that slave owners were monstrous. He also felt like they shouldn’t have to give up their natural rights because of the color of their skin. -
Fugitive Slave Act was enacted
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugitive-slave-acts Allowed the capture of runaway slaves within the perimeter of the United States. And punished anyone who tried to protect them during their runaway. It was enacted because the southerners were afraid that their slaves would run away because of the new free states. Because of this, abolitionists created safe houses. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/nat-turner In August of 1831 Nat Turner a slave who was educated and was a preacher to other slaves in the area, started a rebellion. They first killed the Travis family and then they went on to kill 51 other white people. He hid for 6 weeks and when discovered he was hung along with 16 of his followers. -
Slaves overthrow slave ship.
https://www.history.com/mutiny-on-the-amistad-slave-ship On July 2, 1839 53 slaves overthrew their captors in the morning. They were aboard the Cuban Schooner Amistad. They killed two crew members and gained control over the ship. After gaining control they had planned to sail back to Africa but ended up in the U.S. A U.S. navy ship spotted them off the coast of Connecticut and abolitionists fought for them and they got a free passage back home because they were illegally enslaved. -
Dred Scott V. Sanford
Ruling was that anyone with African descent even if visibly white were not citizens and could not sue. Dred Scott was a slave who moved to a Wisconsin territory which was free. After his master died he sued because he had been living in free places. The trial went to the supreme court. The court felt that the case was out of their jurisdiction because he had been a slave. Cases could only be heard from citizens,he was not considered a citizen so Scott lost. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation written by Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862 declaring all slaves in rebellious states to be forever free January 1, 1863. Lincoln opposed slavery but at first wasn’t sure abolition was the way to go until hundreds of slaves fought he realized that it could be a good military strategy. The Proclamation did not free a single slave. it was a significant turning point for the war. Lincoln believed that slavery was bad for the negro, white man, and the state. -
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.” At first the proposal for the 13th amendment got rejected because the house of representatives was mostly democratic but after the Union victory Lincoln won in reelection and the amendment was then passed on January 31st 1865 with a 199-56 vote. -
14th Amendment
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fourteenth-amendment
The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the united states including slaves and granted all citizens equal protection of the laws. -
15th Amendment
Granted African American Men the right to vote.To get around this amendment white southerners had unfair practices to ensure that they couldn’t vote like pass a literacy test and pay a poll tax that some couldn’t afford. The KKK also came out and terrorized blacks so they wouldn’t vote or even leave their house and in some cases they killed the blacks usually by hanging. -
Plessy V. Ferguson
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/plessy-v-ferguson Homer Plessy, an African American refused to sit in a car for blacks because he appeared white. He had black in his family though and even though he was 1/8th black he was still considered black. The ruling was separate but equal and that a law that implies a legal distinction between race was not unconstitutional. And that the 14th amendment only protects political and civil rights like voting not social rights.