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Antonio a negro arrives
Jamestown settlement- Antonio a negro arrives. Later, Antonio changed his name to Anthony Johnson, married an African American servant named Mary, and they had four children. Mary and Anthony also became free, and he soon owned land and cattle and even indentured servants of his own. By 1650, Anthony was still one of only 400 Africans in the colony among nearly 19,000 settlers. In Johnson's own county, at least 20 African men and women were free, and 13 owned their own homes. -
Slavery is made illegal in Northwest Territory
Slavery is made illegal in the Northwest Territory. The U.S. Constitution states that Congress may not ban the slave trade until 1908. -
Congress bans
Congress bans the Importation of slaves from Africa. Although the controversy over slavery continued for decades. -
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes one of the most effective and celebrated leaders of the Underground Railroad. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The legislation repeals the MIssouri Compromise of 1820 and renews tensions between anti- and proslavery factions. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Declares that recial segregation in schools is unconstutional. -
Emmett Till
A young boy- Emmett Till is brutally murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. -
The Dred Scott case
The Dred Scott case holds that Congress does not have the right to ban slavery and furthermore that slaves are not citizens. -
Civil War
Civil War begins- The Southern states succeeded from the UNion and the Civil war begins. -
President Lincoln
President Lincoln issues that Emancipation Proclamation declaring "that all persons held as slaves" within the Confederate states" are and henceforward should be free." -
Civil Rights Act
President Johnson signs the Civil Right Act, the most sweeping Civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national orgin. -
Freeman's Bureau
Congress establishes the Freeman's Bureau to protect the right of newly emancipated blacks. -
Ending of Civil War
Finally, on April 18, 1865, the Civil War ended with the surrender of the Confederate army. 617,000 Americans had died in the war, approximately the same number as in all of America's other wars combined. Thousands had been injured. The southern landscape was devastated. -
KuKlux Klan
The KuKlux Klan is formed in Tennessee by ex-confederates. -
Black codes
Black codes are passed, drastically restricting the rights of newly freed slaves. -
14th Amendment
14th Amendment si ratified, defining citizenship. Individuals born or naturalized in the United States are American citizens, including those born as slaves. -
15th Amendment
15th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving the blacks the right to vote. -
Reconstruction ends
Reconstruction ends in the South. Federal attempts to provide some basic civil rights for African Americans quickly erode. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
This landmarks the Supreme Court decision holds that racial segregation is Constitutional, paving the way laws for the repressive Jim Crow laws in the South. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X, black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is assassinated.
