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Portuguese negotiate the first slave trade agreement that also includes gold and ivory. By the end of the 19th Century, because of the slave trade, five times as many Africans (over 11 million) would arrive in the Americas than Europeans.
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Rhode Island declares an enslaved person must be freed after 10 years of service.
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Parliament outlaws British participation in the African Slave Trade.
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Denmark Vesey, a former slave and one of the church’s leaders, began organizing a major slave rebellion in Charleston to be carried out in June of 1822.
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White militant radical abolitionist fought a guerrilla war against slavery.
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The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
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South Carolina law outlawed the presence and organization of black churches, the congregation worshipped in secret and helped with the Underground Railroad until 1865 when slavery ended
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The 15th amendment was passed for every us citizen to be able to vote.
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colorado is the first state to grant womens rights
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A surpreme court case, which invalidates the separation of blacks and whites.
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President Truman " it is hereby declared to be the policy of the president that shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.
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Henderson v. United States the Supreme Court abolishes segregation in railroad dining cars.
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Regional council of negro leadership, founded in Cleveland, Mississippi by T.R.M. Howard, Amzie Moore, Aaron Henry, and other civil rights activists. This campaign successfully pressured many Mississippi service stations to provide restrooms for blacks.
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Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. This all started the bus boycott and gave people the courage to follow.
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Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths.
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Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter.
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James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal troops.
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Passing Congress in 1963, the Equal Pay Act is a federal law requiring that employers pay all employees equally for equal work, regardless of whether the employees are male or female.
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President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.
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In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time are forced to revise their laws.