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The first African American Slaves arive in Virginia.
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The Missouri Compromise bans Slavery north of the southern boundary of Missouri.
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The Wilmot Proviso was introduced by Democratic representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, attempts to ban slavery in territory gained in the Mexican War. The proviso is blocked by Southerners, but continues to enflame the debate over slavery.
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She eccaped from slavery and becomes one of the most effective and celebrated leaders of the Underground Railroad
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Harriet Beecher Stowe's Novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, gets published and it becomes one of the most influential works to stir anti-slavery sentiments.
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The Dred Scott Case hold that congress does not have the right to ban slavery in states and, furthermore, that slaves are not citizens.
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President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring "that all persons held as slaves" within the Confederate states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
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Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote.
Hiram Revels of Mississippi is elected the country's first African-American senator. During Reconstruction, sixteen blacks served in Congress and about 600 served in states legislatures. -
Jackie Robinson breaks Major League Baseball's color barrier when he is signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers by Branch Rickey.
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Sen. Barack Obama, Democrat from Chicago, becomes the first African American to be nominated as a major party nominee for president. On November 4, Barack Obama, becomes the first African American to be elected president of the United States, defeating Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain.
