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Middle Passage
Middle segment of the forced journey that slaves made from Africa to America throughout the 1600's; it consisted of the dangerous trip across the Atlantic Ocean; many slaves perished on this segment of the journey. -
Beginning of Slavery in America
The cultivation of tobacco required inexpensive labor, slave labor in colonial Virginia and Maryland spread rapidly as Blacks replaced White indentured servants in the tobacco fields. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Angry former indentured servants, mostly from West VA resented East planters. They were very poor, lacking wives, had little land, and were squatting in the west of the colony. They were lead by Nathaniel Bacon. They were angered by the lack of response to Indian attacks. They chased Berkely out of town but when Bacon died Berkely crushed the uprising. -
Stono Rebellion
The most serious slave rebellion in the the colonial period which occurred in 1739 in South Carolina. 100 African Americans rose up, got weapons and killed several whites then tried to escape toFlorida. The uprising was crushed and the participants executed. The main form of rebellion was running away, though there was no where to go. -
Manumission
Allowed slave owners to release their slaves. This led to 10,000 slaves being freed. -
Mulattos
A interracial mix of blacks and whites. Could either be used as another slave in the south, or they could be considered white. -
Three Fifths Compromise
Determined that each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning taxes and representation. The compromise granted disproportionate political power to Southern slave states. -
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Created a policy for administering the Northwestern Territories. It included a path to statehood and forbade the expansion of slavery into the territories. -
The Haitian Slave Rebellion
Led to more slave revolts because of hope of success now that there was an example; hurt France financially; gave Haiti freedom, spread fear of slave rebellion, first free slave nation in the western hemisphere, ended Napoleon's dream of an American empire which led to him selling the Louisiana land to the Americans. -
2nd Great Awakening
Revivals increased public awareness of the moral outrages perpetuated by slavery. Contributed to the growth of the abolitionist movement. -
King Cotton
Expression used by Southern authors and orators before the Civil War to indicate the economic dominance of the Southern cotton industry, and that the North needed the South's cotton. In a speech to the Senate in 1858, James Hammond declared, "You daren't make war against cotton! ...Cotton is king!". -
Black Christianity
Black throughout South developed own Christianity, more emotional than whites, used Christian salvation to express dreams of Freedom. Many Blacks from all over, learned common language "Pidgin", survived for many generations.Blacks used music to pass time or slave spirituals for politics. Often spontaneous and rarely written down, blacks danced and sang to music when permitted, also used for storytelling. -
Southern Society
Just before the Revolutionary War, 70% of the leaders of the Virginia legislature came from families established in Virginia before 1690. Social Scale- Great Planters-owned gangs of slaves and vast domains of land; ruled the region's economy and monopolized political power. Small Farmers-largest social group; tilled their own modest plots and may have owned one or two slaves.
Landless Whites-many were former indentured servants.
Black Slaves. -
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States during the time of the Civil war over slavery. Initially, before the war, he wasn't concerned about ending slavery in the south, he just wanted to compromise, but later in his presidency, he decided to attack slavery directly. -
American Colonization Society
reflecting the focus of early abolitionists on transporting freed blacks back to Africa, the organization established Liberia, a West-African settlement intended as a haven for emancipated slaves -
Frederick Douglass
Influential writer. one of the most prominent african american figures in the abolitionist movement. escaped from slavery in maryland. he was a great thinker and speaker. published his own antislavery newspaper called the north star and wrote an autobiography that was published in 1845. -
Tallmadge Amendment
Representative 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' offspring born after the state was admitted. -
Missouri compromise
The issue was that 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. -
William Lloyd Garrison
Most conspicuous and most vilified of the abolitionists, published "The Liberator" in Boston, helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society; favored Northern secession and renounced politics -
Nat Turner's Revolt
Slaves wanted freedom; Nat Turner saw vision and attacked whites in Southampton County, VA. Turner, 70 slaves, & 55 whites killed; Turner caught; he was executed & hundreds of slaves were punished; Frightened South; Tightened slave codes; Restricted freedom for all blacks in South; South began to aggressively defend slavery as "positive good" -
American Anti-Slavery Society
Abolitionist society founded by William Loyd Garrison, who advocated the immediate abolition of slavery; by 1838, the organization had more than 250,000 members across 1,350 chapters -
Annexation of Texas
President Jackson resisted annexation of Texas into the Union primarily because he feared that the debate over the admission of Texas would cause controversy over slavery. Following a join resolution of Congress, Texas joined the Union in 1845. -
Wilmot Proviso
Bill proposed after the Mexican War that stated that neither slavery no involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any territory gained from Mexico. It was never passed through both houses but it transformed the debate of slavery. -
Compromise of 1850
Diffused a four year political confrontation between the north and the south over newly acquired territories that had been gained from the Mexican-American war. this compromise was created by Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser. California was admitted to the Union as a free state.Slave trade was abolished from the District of Columbia, Territorial government were created in New Mexico and Utah without immediate decision whether or not they would be slave or free. -
Harriet Beacher Stowe
Novelist who wrote uncle tom's cabin, a book about a slave who is treated badly, in 1852. the book persuaded more people, particularly northerners, to become anti-slavery. -
Underground Railroad
A network of abolitionists that secretly helped slaves escape to freedom by setting up hiding places and routes to the North. Harriet Tubman is a key person to its success. -
Ostend Manifesto
The Ostend Manifesto took place in 1854. A group of southerners met with Spanish officials in Belgium to attempt to get more slave territory. They felt this would balance out congress. They tried to buy Cuba but the Spanish would not sell it. Southerners wanted to take it by force and the northerners were outraged by this thought. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This Act set up Kansas and Nebraska as states. Each state would use popular sovereignty to decide what to do about slavery. People who were pro-slavery and antislavery moved to Kansas, but some antislavery settlers were against the Act. This began guerrilla warfare. -
Bleeding Kansas
A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in KansasTerritory where new proslavery and antislavery constitutions competed.The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent. -
Booker T. Washington
A former slave. Encouraged blacks to keep to themselves and focus on the daily tasks of survival, rather than leading a grand uprising. Believed that building a strong economic base was more critical at that time than planning an uprising or fighting for equal rights. Washington also stated in his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech in 1895 that blacks had to accept segregation in the short term as they focused on economic gain to achieve political equality in the future. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen. -
John Brown
An abolitionist who attempted to lead a slave revolt by capturing Armories in southern territory and giving weapons to slaves, was hung in Harpers Ferry after capturing an Armory -
Harper's Ferry
John Brown's scheme to invade the South with armed slaves, backed by sponsoring, northern abolitionists; seized the federal arsenal; Brown and remnants were caught by Robert E. Lee and the US Marines; Brown was hanged. -
Fugitive Slave Act
A law making it a crime to help runaway slaves. If caught could face up to 6 months in prison and a $1000 dollar fine. Commissioners 10 dollars right slave $5 dollars wrong slave. -
Civil War
The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America in a conflict over sectional differences between the north and the south: specifically slavery. -
Ida Barnett-Wells
African American journalist. published statistics about lynching, urged African Americans to protest by refusing to ride streetcards or shop in white owned stores -
Emancipation Proclamation
Issued by Lincoln as a way to broaden the goals of the war and achieve a moral victory, but through its principles it freed absolutely no slaves on the day it was given; changed the purpose of the war and caused Europeans to withdraw from supporting south. -
Black Codes
Laws passed by southern states after the Civil War denying ex-slaves the complete civil rights enjoyed by whites and intended to force blacks back to plantations and impoverished lifestyles. -
Thirteenth Amendment
Constitutional amendment prohibiting all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude. Former Confederate States were required to ratify the amendment prior to gaining reentry into the union. -
Klu Klux Klan
Secret domestic militant organizations in the United States, originating in the southern states and eventually having national scope, that are best known for advocating white supremacy and acting as terrorists while hidden behind conical hats, masks and white robes. The KKK has a record of terrorism,[2] violence, and lynching to intimidate, murder, and oppress African Americans, Jews and other minorities and to intimidate and oppose Roman Catholics and labor unions. -
14th Amendment
Constitutional amendment that extended civil rights to freedom and prohibited states from taking away such rights without due process. -
W. E. B. DuBois
Fought for immediate implementation of African American rights. Opponent of Booker T Washington, he helped to found Niagara Movement in 1905 to fight for and establish equal rights. This movement later led to the establishment of the NAACP. -
15th Amendment
Prohibited states from denying citizens the franchise on account of race. It disappointed feminists who want to be amended to include guarantees for women's suffrage. -
Slaughterhouse Case of 1873
the 15th and 14th amendments do not guarantee federal protection of individual rights against discrimination by their own state governments-distinction between state citizenship and national citizenship -
Compromise of 1877
It withdrew federal soldiers from their remaining position in the South, enacted federal legislation that would spur industrialization in the South, appointed Democrats to patronage positions in the south, and appointed a Democrat to the president's cabinet. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court case about Jim Crow railroad cars in Louisiana; the Court decided by 7 to 1 that legislation could not overcome racial attitudes, and that it was constitutional to have "separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites. -
Thurgood Marshall
the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Prior to becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his activity in the Little Rock 9 and his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education -
NAACP
(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) created in 1909 by a group of liberals (including Du Bois, Jane Addams and John Dewey) to eradicate racial discrimination. -
WWI
African Americans fought in segregated units, usually under the command of white officers. A massive wave of migration of Black Americans from the South to the North happened immediately after the war. -
The Great Migration
The movement of African Americans from the South to the industrial centers of the Northeast and the Midwest. Causes for migration included decreasing cotton prices, the lack of immigrant workers in the North, increased manufacturing as a result of the war, and the strengthening of the KKK. -
The Harlem Renaissance
Black artistic movement in New York City in the 1920s, when writers, poets, painters, and musicians came together to express feelings and experiences, especially about the injustices of Jim Crow; leading figures of the movement included Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Duke Ellington, Zora Neale Hurston, and Langston Hughes. -
Malcolm X
Minister of the Nation of Islam, urged blacks to claim their rights by any means necessary, more radical than other civil rights leaders of the time. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
Aimed for peaceful integration of races and nonviolent civil disobedience. He founded and was the head of the SCLC. He was an opponent of Malcom X. -
Fair Employment Practices Commision
FDR issued this committee in 1941 to enforce the policy of prohibiting employment-related discrimination practices by federal agencies, unions, and companies involved in war-related work It guaranteed the employment of 2 million black workers in the war factories. -
Congress of Racial Equality
Congress of Racial Equality. Nonviolent civil rights organization founded in 1942 and committed to the "Double V" campaign, or victory over fascism abroad and racism at home. After World War II, CORE became a major force in the civil rights movement. -
Brown v. Board of Eduction
Segregation in public schools was in violation of the fourteenth amendment and overturned Plessy v. Ferguson. -
Montgomery bus Boycott
After Rosa Parks is arrested, MLK rallies the black community to do this. This seriously hurt the bus companies. This lasted more than a year, and ended in '56 when the SC declared segregated buses unconstitutional. -
Little Rock Nine
a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Heavily protested, turing violent. -
Sit-in Movement
A nonviolent approach to protest in the south in which African American citizens would "sit in" at establishments where they were denied service to make a statement. -
Freedom Riders
Organized mixed-race groups who rode interstate buses deep into the South to draw attention to and protest racial segregation, beginning in 1961. This effort by northern young people to challenge racism proved a political and public relations success for the Civil Rights Movement. -
Bombing of a Baptist Church in Birmingham
Racially motivated terrorist attack on September 15, 1963, by members of a Ku Klux Klan group in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. The bombing of the African-American church resulted in the deaths of four girls. Although city leaders had reached a settlement in May with demonstrators and started to integrate public places, not everyone agreed with ending segregation. Other acts of violence followed the settlement. The bombing increased support for people working for civil rights. -
Freedom Summer
A voter registration drive in Mississippi spearheaded by the collaboration of civil rights groups, the campaign drew the activism of thousands of black and white civil rights workers, many of whom were students from the north, and was marred by the abduction and murder of three such workers at the hands of white racists. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the vote and authorized federal examiners to register voters in states that had disenfranchised blacks; as more blacks became politically active and elected black representatives, it rboguth jobs, contracts, and facilities and services for the black community, encouraging greater social equality and decreasing the wealth and education gap -
Selma March
MLK organizes a march in Selma. Tens of thousands of black protesters petition for the right to vote outside of the city hall and are ignored. They then marched to the governors mansion in Montgomery. Police meet them with tear gas and clubs. "Bloody Sunday" is highly publicized and Americans in the North are shocked. -
Black Power Movement
emphasized racial pride and the creation of black political and cultural institutions to nurture and promote black collective interests, advance black values, and secure black autonomy. a range of political goals, from defense against racial oppression, to the establishment of separate social institutions and a self-sufficient economy. Black Power adherents believe in Black autonomy, with a variety of tendencies such as black nationalism, and black separatism. -
Black Panthers
an African-American organization established to promote Black Power and self-defense through acts of social agitation. It was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s.The Black Panther Party achieved national and international presence through their deep involvement in the local community. The Black Panther Party was an auxiliary of the greater movement, often coined the Black Power Movement. The Black Power movement was one of the most significant movements .