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European explorers bring slaves to the Americas
Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. The institution of slavery lasted throughout the American colonies for the 17th and 18th centuries, and African-American slaves helped build the economic foundations of the new nation. -
The invention of the cotton gin in the U.S.
Eli Whitney was the inventor of the cotton gin and a pioneer in the mass production of cotton. By April 1793, Whitney had designed and constructed the cotton gin, a machine that automated the separation of cottonseed from the short-staple cotton fiber. -
Slavery ends in Spain
Spain abolishes slavery at home and in all colonies except Cuba,[16] Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo -
Slavery ends in Great Britain
Slavery was officially abolished in most of the British Empire on 1 August 1834. In practical terms, however, only slaves below the age of six were freed in the colonies, as all former slaves over the age of six were redesigned as "apprentices" Peaceful protests continued until a resolution to abolish apprenticeship was passed and de facto freedom was achieved. -
The Amistad mutiny and trials of 1839-1840
The Amistad case energized the fledgling abolitionist movement and intensified conflict over slavery, prompted a former President to go before the Supreme Court and condemn the policies of a present Administration, soured diplomatic relations between the United States and Spain for a generation, and created a wave of interest in sending Christian missionaries to Africa. -
fugitive slave act
The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the group of laws referred to as the "Compromise of 1850." In this compromise, the antislavery advocates gained the admission of California as a free state, and the prohibition of slave-trading in the District of Columbia. -
The compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery.
As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C, was abolished. -
American Civil War
The American Civil War, also known as the War between the States or simply the Civil War, was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States (the "Union" or the "North") and several Southern slave states. The war had its origin in the fractious issue of slavery, and, after four years of bloody combat (mostly in the South), the Confederacy was defeated, and the slavery was abolished -
Signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in U.S.
On this day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation. Attempting to stitch together a nation mired in a bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln made a last-ditch, but carefully calculated, decision regarding the institution of slavery in America. -
Slavery ends in the United States
The thirteenth amendments, abolishing slavery, was passed by the Senate in April 1864. The amendment didn't take effect until it was ratified by three-fourths of the States, which occured on December 6th 1865 when Georgia ratified it. On that date, all remaining slaves became officially free. -
U.S. radifies 13th amendment to the constitution
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on 31st of January in 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. -
Jim crow laws
Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. -
The civil rights movement for African Americans in the U.S.
The African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) refers to the social movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against black Americans and restoring voting rights to them. -
The murder of Emmett Till
In August 1955, a fourteen year old boy went to visit relatives near Money, Mississippi. Intelligent and bold, with a slight mischievous streak, Emmett Till had experienced segregation in his hometown of Chicago, but he was unaccustomed to the severe segregation he encountered in Mississippi. When he showed some local boys a picture of a white girl who was one of his friends back home and bragged that she was his girlfriend, one of them said, "Hey, there's a [white] girl in that store there. I b -
Freedom riders movements
In the 1960 case Boynton v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional. But the high court’s ruling didn’t stop segregation on interstate bus and rail lines in the South from persisting. Enter the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a civil rights group. The goal was to test the Supreme Court ruling on segregated interstate travel in the Confederate states -
Reverend Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated
At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was hit by a sniper's bullet. King had been standing on the balcony in front of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when he was shot. The .30-caliber rifle bullet entered King's right cheek, traveled through his neck, and finally stopped at his shoulder blade. King was immediately taken to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. -
The last country in the world to ban the slavery
In 1981, Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery. Activists are arrested for fighting the practice. The government denies it exists. -
Brown v.s.Board of education
Segregation of white and black children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to black children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment -- even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors of white and black schools may be equal.
