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First African Slaves Brought to America
The first slaves came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. They replaced the commonly used indentured servants, Europeans working to pay off the debts of the people who paid for them to come to the New World, beacuse while the servants' service ended after several years, slaves werer property for life. Also, indentured servants kept dying due to the different climate and diseases that the African slaves were more used to in Africa. This would be the bieginning of the millions of slaves in America. -
Inventing of the Cotton Gin
The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, the device was used to quickly seperate the seeds from the cotton resulting in an extreme increase in cotton production. Due to this increase in the cotton industry, there was a need for a much higher amount of slaves in the South. Although a useful invention at the time, Eli Whitney probabaly did not know he would be responsible for the rapid growth of the slave industry in America. -
Nat Turner's Revolt
Nat Turner organized the largest and most succesful slave rebellion with over 75 slaves killing around 65 white Southerners before being stopped. This lead to an increase in state legislature restricting free blacks from assembling, having a church congregation without a white minister, and other civil liberties. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was a part of the Compromise of 1850. It required all caught runaway slaves to be returned to their masters in the South even if they were caught in free sates. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was written in repsonse to this law, and many abolitionists called it the "Bloodhound Law". -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
"Unvce Tom's Cabin" was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in response to the Figtive Slave Act of 1850. The book had an abolitionist message and became extremely popular selling over 300,000 copies within the first year of publication and became the best selling novel of the 19th century. It is often attributed as one of the things that helped spark the Civil War. -
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was a slave that went to the Supreme Court to argue for his freedom after living in the Wisconsin Territory where slavery was prohibited. The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Roger Taney decided against him stating that the Constitution did not apply to slaves since they were not citizens. This deepened the division between North and South because Northern aboilitionists were outraged by the decision. -
John Brown
John Brown was a white abolitionist who raided the town of Harper's Ferry with 21 men in order to begin a slave revolution he hoped would spread across the South. Brown's raid was ended by U.S. Marines led by Robert E. Lee after which he was hung. The raid helped start the Civil War because it emphasised the divisions ebtween the North and South because he became a martyr in the North. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by Abrhama Lincoln. The proclamation stated that all slaves in only the South were freed despite the fact that the South was now its own nation. It was not primarily done because it was the humane thing to do as many people belive, but because without their slaves, the Southern economy would be destroyed. It also was significant beacue it established abolition as an official Union war effort. -
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Black Codes
Black Codes were discrminatory laws passed by southern states after the Civil War as a way of maneuvering around the new rights given to blacks. The codes not only took away civil liberties such as the right for blacks to assemble or interacial marriage, but it also passed laws that said an african american must pay a fine if they have a job other than being a farm hand as well as yearly labor contracts that they were forced to sign, basically enslaving the balcks that had just been freed -
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The Ku Klux Klan
The first KKK was founded around 1865 in Tennessee by former mebers of the Confederate Army. The Klan spread across the South attacking African Americans or abolitionists and helped make sure that blacks wouldnt vote through threats and lynchings. After the passing of the Enforcement Acts, the Klan died out for the most part. -
13th Ammendment
The 13th Ammendment was ratified in 1865 and stated that any form of slavery in America was illegal unless as an official punishment for a crime. It officially freed all slaves in America, but some Black Codes in southern states underminded the ammendment. -
Buffalo Soldiers
The U.S. 10th Calvary Regiment, an entirely frican American regiment is created. They wpould be given the nicname, "buffalo soldiers", duing the Inidan Wars because they were knwon to slaughter buffalo by the thousnads because it was the native americans primary resource. -
14th Ammendment
The 14th Ammendment was ratified on July 9, 1868 and says that sates must give equal protection under the law for each citizen, as well as making sure that someone's life, liberty, and property cannot be taken away from someone without due process. The ammendment helped protect the rights of freed black slaves after the Civil War. -
15th Ammendment
The 15th Ammendment ratified on February 3, 1870 prohibits voting discrimination based upon race. Southern states managed to avoid this ammendment with grandfather clauses, literacy tests, and poll taxes. African Americans wouldnt be given full voter equality until the 1960's. -
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Enforcement Acts
The Enforcement Acts were three different laws, including the Civil Righs Act of 1875, passed between 1870 and 1871 in order to protect the rights of freed blacks primarily in the South and primarily from the KKK. It resulted in the official ending of the KKK in 1872 due to large amounts of members going on trial for using violence to prevent African Americans from voting. -
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Jim Crow Laws
Laws that were put in place by local or state government that restricted the freedom of African Americans. Laws such as making blacks sit at the back of the bus or making black children go to worse and seperate schools than white were common. throughout the south. -
Creation of Tuskegee Institute
A black only school that focused on giving African Americans the skill needed to acheive succes in the workplace. Created by Booker T. Washington the institute wanted to create opportunities for blacks. Famous African American professors such as George Washington Carver taught specialized classes that focused on a certain field of work. This was the first black only college in the country at the time -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was brought before the Supreme Court after a man with black heritage got on a "whites-only" train car and was arrested. The signifcance of the case was that it creted the idea of "seperate but equal" that would be practiced in America for over half a century. -
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Niagra Movement
A black civil rights oraganization that was created to win blacks equal rights. Lead by W.E.B DuBois the group had disagreements with Booker T. Washington ideas. They believing that Washington was being submissive to whites demanded complete equality -
NAACP is Founded
The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a civil rights group founded on February 12, 1909 by a group of African Americans, including W.E.B. Dubois, opposing Booker T. Washington's gradual change movement. The group attempted to overturn Jim Crow laws and opposed segregation. The organization gave African Americans the oppurtuinity to be officers in the military, found grandfather clauses unconstitutional, and helped pass anti-lyinching legislation. -
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The Second Ku Klux Klan
The Second Ku Klux Klan was founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1915. In its second reincarnation the group had a stronger infrasturcture in cities and in the rural South, with 4-5 million members at its peak in the mid 1920s. The organization was made of white protsetants and opposed minorities specifically African Americans, and often commited lynchings. Due to the arrest of many high ranking officials the group deteriorated to nearly 30,000 members in 1930, and had disappered by the next decade. -
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Great Migration
The migration of more then six million African Americans from the rural South to Cities in the North, West, and Mid-West. This sudden migration was caused due to increased racism such as Jim Crow Laws, lynchings, and segregation. Addiitonally, there were more job oppurutities in the Northern factories than there were in the South. Due to this movement African Americans went from living primarily in agricultural states like Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi to having nearly 80% live in cities. -
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Harlem Renaissance
An artistic movement that took place primarily in Harlem, New York that included African American musicians, poets, and authors such as Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, and Sinclair Lewis. This may have been caused due to The Great Migration, and the new African American culture that came with it. The movement had an affect on the African American community as it allowed many black artists to be respected by white society, and be seen as musicians or writers first and black second. -
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New Deal
With the country's economy in ruins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt attempted to use Keynesian economics to get the country out of the depression. To accomplish this he created many government organizations that gave work to the unemployed. While this affected unemployment rates it left African Americans and most other miniorites in the dust. Most jobs were for young white males while blacks were left with no help. -
Tuskegee Airmen
A group of African American pilots nicknamed "Red Tails," gained recognition for being the best transport pilots the U.S had. Having been trained at the Tuskegee Institute these pilots showed that African Americans were able to aid the U.S abroad. -
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Double V Campaign
The Double V Campaign was an African American Movement started by the Pittsburg Courier on February 7, 1942 that had two goals, victory over fascism abroad and over discrimination at home. This was accomplished by black men and women migrating North to work in factories that helped the war effort despite these factories being segregated and blacks being paid less. Simultaneously they sought victory over deiscrimination in the work force by demanding equal pay and desegregation of factories. -
CORE is Founded
The Congress of Racial Equality was formed in hopes of furthering African American rights using peacful tactics. Using Gandhi's idea of peacful resistance, their goal was to end segragation with out physical conflict. Having a larger number of whites as members the organzation worked along with whites to solve problems peacfully. -
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Civil Rights Movement
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Brown vs. BOE
The Supreme Court ruled in a 9-0 in favor of Brown. The descision stated that, "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," and therefore segregastion of public schools is illegal. The case was a huge win for african americans and was one of the first events of the Civil Rights Movement -
Murder of Emmett Till
A 14 year old african american went down to visit family in Mississippi. Somethig happened between him and a white lady in a grocery store, and he was later brutally lynched and murdered. As a statment, Emmett's mother held an open casket funeral and showed Till's mutalated body. The pictures of the body caused up roar in the bla community and acted as another cause of the Civil Rights Movement -
Little Rock Nine
A group of nine African American high school students who took adavantage of the newly intergrated Little Rock Central High School. On the first day they were met with white racists lining the streets screaming racial slurs. President Eisenhower was forced to send in the Army to protect the Little Rock Nine. -
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Greensboro Sit-ins
A string of sit-ins that famously took place in Woolworths. While they may not have been the first sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement they did atrract the most attenion of blacks and whites alike. Put together by the CORE, students of different ethnicities sat together at lunch counter and refused to stand up. Public outrage ensued and photographs of angry whites traveleds the country and helped gain support for the Civil Rights Movement -
The March on Washington
One of the largest pollitical rallies of all time took place as blacks and white alike assemblied around the Washington Mounument. Credited with triggering the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the march had speeches given by a bunch of famous civil rights leaders. MLK's famous "I Have a Dream," sperch was given at the rally. -
Freedom Summer
An event put together by the major civil rights organization with the hopes of registering as many blacks to vote in Mississippi as possible. The state had been notorious for supreesing the black vote in the past and the movement finally gave blacks a voice in Mississippi. Overall it acted as an example to black americans that they could vote no matter the circumstance -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
A piece of legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race gender or religion. Ended segregation in "public accommodations." -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act outlawed racial discrimination on the basis of race. Outlawed any state level law that discriminate against minorities when it comes to voting. Therefore abolished poll taxes and literacy tests. -
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Black Panther Party
The Black Panther party was a civil rights organization that believed in violence as a means of getting their point across. A supporter of the Black Power movement, the Black Panthers wanted not to equalize whites and blacks but believed that blacks were superior to whites. They were polar opposites of MLK's ideals of non-violent protests.
