Early American Discrimination Timeline

  • Massacre at Mystic

    A three year war between the English and the pequot people.
  • Massacre at Mystic

    Massacre at Mystic
    The Massacre at Mystic happened as a revenge to the Pequot killing two Englishmen. The Puritans’ religious rhetoric made their victory over the “heathens” in the Pequot War a significant factor in the formulation of Colonial/American Indian policy over the next three centuries
  • The Scalp Act

    The Scalp Act
    On April 8, 1756, Governor Robert Morris enacted the Scalp Act. Anyone who brought in a male scalp above age of 12 would be given 150 pieces of eight, ($150), for females above age of 12 or males under the age of 12, they would be paid $130. The act turned all the tribes against the Pennsylvania legislature.
  • The 3/5ths Compromise

    The 3/5ths Compromise
    It was part of a provision of the original Constitution that dealt with how to allot seats in the House of Representatives and dole out taxes based on population. State populations would be determined by “the whole Number of free Persons” and “three fifths of all other Persons.”
  • Battle of Tippecanoe

    Battle of Tippecanoe
    Fought primarily over white expansion into Indian territory, the battle lasted approximately one day with the United States securing victory. The conflict at Tippecanoe was the primary catalyst for the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States.
  • The Missouri Compromise

    The Missouri Compromise
    Why was the Missouri Compromise so important to the Senate? It maintained a delicate balance between free and slave states. On the single most divisive issue of the day, the U.S. Senate was equally divided. If the slavery question could be settled politically, any such settlement would have to happen in the Senate.
  • Trail of Tears

    Trail of Tears
    The Trail of Tears has become the symbol in American history that signifies the callousness of American policy makers toward American Indians. Indian lands were held hostage by the states and the federal government, and Indians had to agree to removal to preserve their identity as tribes.
  • Indian Removal Act

    Indian Removal Act
    The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy.
  • Nat Turner Rebellion

    Nat Turner Rebellion
    Nat Turner destroyed the white Southern myth that slaves were actually happy with their lives or too docile to undertake a violent rebellion. His revolt hardened proslavery attitudes among Southern whites and led to new oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of slaves.
  • The Fugitive Slave Act

    The Fugitive Slave Act
    The Fugitive Slave Acts were a pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway enslaved people within the territory of the United States.The Fugitive Slave Acts were among the most controversial laws of the early 19th century
  • Slave Trade ends in The United States

    Slave Trade ends in The United States
    The 13th Amendment to the Constitution did not end discrimination against those who had been enslaved and blacks. However, it ended slavery and began the long-term goal of achieving equality for all Americans. The 13th Amendment ended enslavement in the United States.
  • Dred Scott Decision

    Dred Scott Decision
    The Dred Scott decision was the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on March 6, 1857, that having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle an enslaved person, Dred Scott, to his freedom. In essence, the decision argued that, as someone's property, Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in a federal court.
  • Emancipation Proclamation

    Emancipation Proclamation
    Black Americans were permitted to serve in the Union Army for the first time, and nearly 200,000 would do so by the end of the war. Finally, the Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for the permanent abolition of slavery in the United States.
  • 13th Amendment

    13th Amendment
    The 13th Amendment forever abolished slavery as an institution in all U.S. states and territories. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution did not end discrimination against those who had been enslaved and blacks. However, it ended slavery and began the long-term goal of achieving equality for all Americans.
  • 14th Amendment

    14th Amendment
    The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former enslaved people—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.
  • 15th Amendment

    15th Amendment
    The 15th Amendment guaranteed African-American men the right to vote. Almost immediately after ratification, African Americans began to take part in running for office and voting.
  • Battle of Little Bighorn

    Battle of Little Bighorn
    The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also called Custer's Last Stand, marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. The demise of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty.
  • Battle of Wounded Knee

    Battle of Wounded Knee
    The massacre was the climax of the U.S. Army's late 19th-century efforts to repress the Plains Indians. It broke any organized resistance to reservation life and assimilation to white American culture, although American Indian activists renewed public attention to the massacre during a 1973 occupation of the site.
  • Plessy vs Ferguson

    Plessy vs Ferguson
    Plessy v. Ferguson was important because it essentially established the constitutionality of racial segregation. As a controlling legal precedent, it prevented constitutional challenges to racial segregation for more than half a century until it was finally overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brownv