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Jan 1, 1492
Northwest Passage
A waterway through or around North America; Believed to provide shortcut from Atlantic to Pacific, searched for by Giovanni de Verrazano for Francis I in the race to Asian wealth;Required of members of the Puritan Church, took the place of baptism required by the Catholic Church -
Jan 1, 1501
Benevolent Masters
Benevolent Masters were slave holders that treated their slaves well or at least believed that they were doing so. -
Period: Jan 1, 1501 to
African Slave Trade
A large triangular trading system between English mainland colonies, the West Indie, and the African shore. Molasses is traded from the Indies up to the colonies where it is distilled into rum. The rum is traded to Africa in exchange for slaves who are traded in the indies for more molasses. It brought a large system of trade that greatly stimulated both the colonies in the Indies and on the mainland as well as bringing slaves to the Indies and back up to the mainland. -
Middle Passage
The 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. -
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 to S. Florida. The uprising was crushed and the participants executed. The main form of rebellion was running away, though there was no where to go. -
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Richard Allen
A Reverend who in 1816 brought together a number of break-away African-American church members to found the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. -
Manumission
The manumission act was an act allowing individual owners to free their slaves. Within a decade, planters had released 10,000 slaves. -
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David Walker
A Black American activist who demanded the immediate end of slavery in the new nation. A leader within the Black enclave in Boston, Massachusetts Recognized for his critical contribution to ending chattel slavery in the United States. One of the most important political and social documents of the 19th century. Exerted 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. -
Mulattos
A mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent. Mulattoes were found primarily in the South, where White and African-American populations were in closer proximity and thus the odds of having a mixed-race child increased. During the slave trade, a slave master could have children with a slave and consider the child a slave or pass for white. -
New York Emancipation Act
Allowed slavery in New York to continue until 1828 and freed slave children only at the age of 25. Consequently, as late as 1810, almost 30,000 blacks in the northern states were still enslaved. -
Black Christianity
In second great awakening, evangelical Protestantism swept over the south, many blacks converted from African spiritual religions and became Methodist or baptist, domestic slave trade spread carried message, adopted protestant doctrines to black needs, expressed Christianity in distinct ways such as dancing and singing hymns. -
Traditional Southern Gentry
Chesapeake, low country of South Carolina and Georgia, characterized by mansions, adopted values of the English gentry; Rice planters at the apex of society. -
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Elijah P. Lovejoy
An American Presbyterian minister, journalist, and newspaper editor who was murdered by a mob in Alton, Illinois for his abolitionist views. -
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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. -
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. -
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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
In 1819, 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. -
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Hiram Revels
He 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. After serving for just one year, he returned to Mississippi to head a college for African American males. -
Nat Turner’s Revolt
Rebellion in which Nat Turner led a group of slaves through Virginia in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow and kill planter families. Lasting impacts were a tightening of slavery laws and practices and fears of abolitionists. -
American Anti-Slavery Society
Founded in 1833 by William Lloyd Garrison and other abolitionists. garrison burned the constitution as a pro slavery document. argued for "no union with slaveholders" until they repented for their sins by freeing their slaves. -
Civil Rights Cases
A case in which the court ruled that Congress could not legislate against the racial discrimination practiced by private citizens, which included railroads, hotels, and other businesses used by the public. -
Gag Rule
The Gag rule was a strict rule passed by pro-southern Congressmen in 1836 to prohibit all discussion of slavery in the House or Representatives. -
American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
An organization founded in 1840 and led by the Tappan brothers that opposed the radical ideas of William Lloyd Garrison, especially his attack on the churches and the constitution; it followed a more moderate approach and supported the political activities of the Liberty Party. -
Fugitive Slave Law
Came from the Compromise of 1850; paid federal commissioners were appointed and given authority to issue warrants, gather, posses and force citizens to help catch runaway slaves; the slaves could not testify on their own behalf, "Man-Stealing Law". Shocked moderates into being antislavery. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe's widely read novel that dramatized the horrors of slavery. It heightened Northern support for abolition and escalated the sectional conflict. -
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. -
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Booker T. Washington
An ex-slave founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881. He stressed patience, manual training and hard work for blacks. Made the Atlanta Compromise speech. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
A series of seven debates. The two argued the important issues of the day like popular sovereignty, the Lecompton Constitution and the Dred Scott decision. Douglas won these debates, but Lincoln's position in these debates helped him beat Douglas in the 1860 presidential election. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
A decision that involved 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. -
Emancipation Proclamation
After victory of Antietam Lincoln announces on the first of 1863 all slaves in the rebelling states would be free. AIM: injure confederacy, threaten its property, heighten its dread, hurt its morale. -
Abolitionism
Was the movement in opposition to slavery, often demanding immediate, uncompensated emancipation of all slaves. This was generally considered radical, and there were only a few adamant abolitionists prior to the Civil War. Almost all abolitionists advocated legal, but not social equality for blacks. Many abolitionists, such as William Lloyd Garrison were extremely vocal and helped to make slavery a national issue, creating sectional tension because most abolitionists were from the North. -
Black Codes
The Black Codes were 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. -
Freedmen’s Bureau
The first kind of primitive welfare agency used to provide food, clothing, medical care, and education to freedman and to white refugees.First to establish school for blacks to learn to read. -
Sharecropping
Sharecropping was a system of work for freedmen who were employed in the cotton industry. This system traded a freedmen's labor for the use of a house, land, and sometimes further accommodations.They would usually give half or more of their grown crop to their landlords. -
African American Opportunities in Cities
African Americans found many more economic opportunities in Northern Cities, causing a high urban black population, and ultimately leading to White flight. -
Lynchings
African Americans were illegally convicted of crimes and hung by white mobs. Groups like the KKK contributed highly to these and women like Ida B. Wells fought strongly against them. -
Jim Crow
Referring to the social ideal, Jim Crow was the segregated south. This saw lynchings, different accommodations, and wide spread racism in the south. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
An act declaring that everyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of slavery. -
14th Amendment
All persons born or naturalized in the US are citizens of the US and of the state where they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of US citizens. No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. No state shall deny to any person the equal protection of laws. Representatives shall be apportioned among the states according to their population. Slaves no longer added to the census as 3/5. -
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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
Suffrage given to black males. Congress has the power to enforce this via legislation. -
Enforcement Laws
The Enforcement Laws prohibited states from discriminating against voters and that the president can use federal troops to protect rights. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Prohibited discrimination against blacks in public place, such as inns, amusement parks, and on public transportation. Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. -
U.S. v. Cruikshank
Following the Colfax Massacre, William Cruikshank argued that his conviction was unconstitutional because the his actions weren't under the authority of federal law. The Supreme Court overturned Cruikshank's conviction, saying that the federal government could only regulate the actions of states regarding civil rights, it was up to the states to regulate the actions of individuals. This limited the power of the 14th and 15th amendments, as well as the Civil Rights Acts. -
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Marcus Garvey
Leader of the UNIA, urged blacks to return to Africa because, he reasoned, blacks would never be treated justly in countries ruled by whites. -
Williams v. Mississippi
The court declared constitutional the use of poll taxes, literacy test, and residential requirements to discourage blacks and poor whites from voting. -
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J. Strom Thurmond
He was nominated for president on a States' Rights Party (Dixiecrats) in the 1948 election. Split southern Democrats from the party due to Truman's stand in favor of Civil Rights for African American. He only got 39 electoral votes. -
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Ella Baker
Ella Baker was the executive director of the SCLC. She called a meeting at an April 1960 conference of 120 black student activists in Raleigh, North Carolina to help the student assess their experiences and plan future actions with civil rights. With Baker's encouragement, the conference voted to establish a new group, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. -
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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. -
United Negro Improvement Association
A group founded by Marcus Garvey to promote black cooperation and the settlement of American blacks in their own "African homeland." -
Race Riot
In Chicago a black teenager swimming in Lake Michigan happened to drift toward a white beach where whites stoned him unconscious and he sank and drowned. Angry blacks gathered in crowds and marched into white neighborhoods to retaliate so the whites formed a even larger crowd and roamed into black neighborhoods. Overall 120 people died in these racial outbreaks. -
Harlem Renaissance
A growth of African American culture in the 1920s when New York City's Harlem became an intellectual and cultural capital for African Americans; instilled interest in African American culture and pride in being an African American. -
Jazz Music
Name for the 1920s, because of the popularity of jazz-a new type of American music that combined African rhythms, blues, and ragtime. -
Pan-Africanism
The Pan-Africanism Movement sought to unify African people or people living in Africa, into a "one African community" Founded by W.E.B. Dubois and Marcus Garvey. -
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Malcolm X
A black militant, radical minister, and spokesman for the Nation of Islam until 1964. Having eschewed his family name "Little," he preached of doctrine of no compromise with white society. He was assassinated in New York City in 1965. -
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Martin Luther King, Jr.
Civil rights leader and Baptist preacher who rose to prominence with the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. He was an outspoken advocate for black rights throughout the 1960s, most famously during the 1963 March on Washington where he delivered the "I Have a Dream Speech." He was assassinated in Memphis in 1968 while supporting a sanitation workers' strike. -
Nation of Islam
A religious group, popularly known as the Black Muslims, founded by Elijah Muhammad to promote black separatism and the Islamic religion. -
Double V Campaign
Campaign popularized by American Black Leaders during WW2 emphasizing the need for double victory: over Germany and Japan and also over racial prejudice in the US. Many blacks were fought in WW2 were disappointed that the America they returned to still hate racial tension. -
Executive Order 8802
Passed by FDR in 1941 prohibited discriminatory employment practices by fed agencies and all unions and companies engaged in war related work. It established the Fair Employment Practices Commission to enforce the new policy. -
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Stokely Carmichael
A black civil rights activist in the 1960s who urged giving up peaceful demonstrations and pursuing "black power." -
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. -
Executive Order 9981
Desegregated the military. Truman's support for civil rights cost him southern votes in the 1948 election. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Topeka board of education denied Linda Brown admittance to an all white school close to her house. Thurgood Marshall argued that a separate but equal violated equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Warren decided separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. -
Murder of Emmett Till
Murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman by her husband and his friends. They kidnapped him and brutally killed him. his death led to the American Civil Rights movement. -
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. -
Integration of Little Rock Central High School
A group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower. On their first day of school, troops from the Arkansas National Guard would not let them enter the school and they were followed by mobs making threats to lynch. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded by MLK, which taught that civil rights could be achieved through nonviolent protests. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
One of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960. SNCC grew into a large organization with many supporters in the North. -
Black Nationalism
Spurred by Malcolm X and other black leaders, a call for black pride and advancement without the help of whites; this appeared to be a repudiation of the calls for peaceful integration urged by MLK. -
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. Each day, they came back with many more protesters. Sometimes, there were over 100. These sit-ins led to the formation of the SNCC. Led to sit-ins across the country. -
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. -
March on Washington
A large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony at the Lincoln Memorial during the march. widely credited as helping lead to the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the National Voting Rights Act (1965). 80% of the marchers were black. -
“I Have a Dream" Speech
Led by King, this was one of the largest and most successful demonstration in US history. This march was in support of the civil rights bill. This speech appealed for the end of racial prejudice. -
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. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act made racial, religious, and sex discrimination by employers illegal and gave the government the power to enforce all laws governing civil rights, including desegregation of schools and public places. -
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Independent federal agency in the executive branch. Created in 1964, this agency works to eliminate employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, disability, age or other criteria unrelated to job performance. It investigates complaints of discrimination; files lawsuits in cases of discrimination and is responsible for enforcing equal opportunity laws in federal departments, offices and agencies. -
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. -
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Political party organized by civil rights activists to challenge Mississippi's delegation to the Democratic National Convention, who opposed the civil rights planks in the party's platform. Claiming a mandate to represent the true voice of Mississippi, it demanded to be seated at the convention but were denied by party bosses. The effort was both a setback to civil rights activism in the south and a motivation to continue to struggle for black voting rights. -
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 encouraged greater social equality and decreasing the wealth and education gap. -
Black Power
A doctrine of militancy and separatism that rose in prominence after 1965, its activists rejected Martin Luther King's pacifism and desire for integration. Rather, they promoted pride in African heritage and an often militant position in defense of their rights. -
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 governers mansion in Montgomery. Police meet them with tear gas and clubs. "Bloody Sunday" is highly publicized and Americans in the North are shocked. -
Black Panther Party
A black political organization that was against peaceful protest and for violence if needed. The organization marked a shift in policy of the black movement, favoring militant ideals rather than peaceful protest.