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"Uncle Tom's Cabin" published
The book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe is published. It is somewhat known as "the groundwork for the Civil War" because it was an anti-slavery novel. The book is credited for boosting the abolitionist movement in the 1850s. -
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American Civil War
The war between the "Confederate States of America" and the "Union". The eleven states in the Confederacy were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. -
The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves
The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves was an Act Congress passed that prohibited the military to get escaped slaves and return them to the South. That resulted in some commanders putting the slaves to work because they got to keep them. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is a presidential proclamtion issued by Abraham Lincoln that said that all the slaves in the eleven Southern states still rebelling were free. About three to four million slaves were proclaimed free because of this document. -
14th Amendment Adopted
The fourteenth amendment to the US Constitution stated the different ways you could become a citizen, that anyone could become a citizen through birth or naturalization, and that all male citizens ages twenty-one and older had the right to vote. -
15th Amendment Adopted
The fifteenth amendment to the US Constitution stated that the "right of citizens...to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." That enforced the statement of the fourteenth amendment that ANY male citizens age twenty-one or older had the right to vote. -
Ida B. Wells Lawsuit
Wells's Crusade Ida B. Wells got onto a train in the South and sat in a Whites-only passenger seat. The conductor asked her to move to the back where she should be sitting, and she refused. She got off the train on the next stop and filed a lawsuit against the Chesapeake, Ohio & South Western Railroad Company, and she won. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson Case
Short Video about the CaseThis case is a "landmark United States Supreme Court decision" because it introduces the precedent of "separate but equal" being just fine. Plessy, the defendent, lost the case seven to one. -
1st Meeting of Future NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed to "ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination." They wanted to show that black people are indeed equal to white people, and promoted the civil rights movement. -
American Negro Labor Congress Formed
This group was formed, in one of the member's words, "to gather, to mobilize, and to coordinate into a fighting machine the most enlightened and militant and class-conscious workers of the race". The group's meeting is said to be the first mass organization of the American Communist Party. -
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Great Depression
The Great Depression was a worldwide economic depression in the decade before World War II. The beginning of the Great depression is marked by the stock market crash on October 29, 1929. -
Hocutt vs. Wilson case
This case came about because a student from the North Carolina College for Negroes, Thomas Hocutt, wanted to attend the pharmacy school at the University of North Carolina. This case is known as the first attempt to desegregate higher education, and although it failed, it served to test the "separate but equal" doctrine. -
Executive Order 8802 issued
This executive order was signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) to prohibit any discrimination of race in the national defense industry. This was the first federal action to prohibit discrimination in employment and promote equal opportunities. -
Executive Order 9981 issued
This executive order, issued by President Harry S. Truman, abolished any racial discrimination in any of the US Armed Forces, which eventually led to the end of all segregation in the services. -
Brown vs. Board of Eduacation of Topeka, Kansas case
This case is also a "landmark United States Supreme Court case" because it overruled the establishment of separate schools for black children and white children. It overturned the precedent from Plessy vs. Furguson in 1896, and made it mandatory for school boards to offer mixed-race schools. -
Bolling vs. Sharp case
This is a "landmark United States Supreme Court case" because, along with Brown vs. Board of Eduation, it has to do with "separate but equal" education systems. This case was argued a year before Brown vs. Board of Eduation, but was decided on the same day. -
ACMHR founded
The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights was an organization that coordinated boycotts and sponsored federal lawsuits that attempteed to stop segregation in Alabama. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed
President Johnson signs the Act This Act outlawed any discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." It ended voting segregation, segragation in schools, and at places known as "public accommodations." -
Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed
This Act prohibits any discrimination in any form of voting. The Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and then was amended five more times to expand its protections of voting rights. -
First African-American Justice appointed to the Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American person appointed to be a Supreme Court justice. He served from October 1967 to October 1991. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968 Signed
President Johnson's Speech The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed into law to provide "for equal housing opportunities regardless of race, creed, or national origin and made it a federal crime to 'by force or by threat of force, injure, intimidate, or interfere with anyone … by reason of their race, color, religion, or national origin.' " This act was meant to be a follow-up for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
Black History Month founded
An example of a celebration Black History Month used to be called Negro History Week, which was established in 1926. At the United States Bicentennial, in 1976, the federal government recognized the expansion of Negro History Week into Black History Month. -
Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988
This Civil Rights Restoration Act "specified that recipients of federal funds must comply with civil rights laws in all areas, not just in the particular program or activity that received federal funding." This one did not pass in 1987 because of the different opinions about abortion. A senator proposed an amendment, making it "abortion-neutral", and passed the houses, was vetoed by the president, but then was overruled by a majority vote in both Congressional houses.
